Agency, Institutional Change, and Continuity: The Case of the Finnish Civil War

Juha‐Antti Lamberg and Kalle Pajunen

Journal of Management Studies, 2010, vol. 47, issue 5, 814-836

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study the role of individual agency in the process of institutional change. We conducted a historical study to explore the motivations and activities of two prominent individuals in business and politics before, during, and after the Finnish Civil War. Our most important finding is that the improvised actions of individuals with complex interests were causally related to long‐term institutional changes. Specifically, our study contributes to theory development in the field of institutional analysis by showing how individual actors can be a mechanism for both institutional continuity and change. On the practical side, our account can help managers understand the power of improvised activities in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, especially if there is the possibility of acting in concert.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00925.x

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:bla:jomstd:v:47:y:2010:i:5:p:814-836

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... s.asp?ref=00022-2380

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Management Studies is currently edited by Timothy Clark, Steven W. Floyd and Mike Wright

More articles in Journal of Management Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().