Micro Processes and Isomorphic Adaptation: Insights from the Struggle for the Soul of Economics at the University of the Holy Spirit

Hamid Bouchikhi and John R. Kimberly ()
Additional contact information
John R. Kimberly: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Postal: Vance Hall, Suite 111 , 3733 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.6340 , USA, http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/

No WP1409, ESSEC Working Papers from ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School

Abstract: As of July 1, 2010, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of the Holy Spirit (UHS) has a single Department of Economics. However, in the seven prior years, there were two economics departments, one that was resolutely mainstream and the other that was just as resolutely heterodox. What accounts for this unusual organizational arrangement? We show that this arrangement was part of a protracted conflict about the kind of economics that befits the Catholic identity of UHS that resulted, ultimately, in a full embrace of mainstream economics in July 2010. We draw on and amend Oliver's (1991) typology of organizational responses to institutional processes and investigate why and how UHS went from deliberate avoidance to full acquiescence to mainstream economics. Our analysis suggests that while organizations may be compelled to adapt to dominant norms, as institutional theorists contend, the process of adaptation involves a variety of conflicting moves and counter moves that engage identity and power and that require forceful leadership to resolve.

Keywords: Institutional Isomorphism; Micro-processes; Organizational Adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2014-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hal-essec.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/99/34/35/PDF/WP1409.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-14009

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ESSEC Working Papers from ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School ESSEC Research Center, BP 105, 95021 Cergy, France. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sophie Magnanou ().