Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations

Denis Gromb and Juan D. Carrillo

No 3613, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We analyse aspects of the structure of organizational culture. We show that old and culturally uniform organizations are prone to cultural inertia; that is they are reluctant to adopt a different culture in response to a change in the environment. Cultural uniformity can be beneficial because the associated inertia protects and therefore encourages culture-specific investments by agents within the organization. We also explore the model?s implications for such issues as cultural uniformity within an organization, cultural heterogeneity across organizations, the destabilizing effect of growth and mergers, and the conflicts arising in the management of organizational culture.

Keywords: Culture in organizations; Inertia; Screening; Uniformity; Diversification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-10
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Journal Article: Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations (2007)
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