How institutional voids are experienced and enacted through social innovation initiatives by multinationals in emerging markets

Maximino Matus-Ruiz, Ayse Saka-Helmhout and Jorge Carillo

International Business Review, 2025, vol. 34, issue 2

Abstract: This paper explores the role of agency in the social construction of institutional voids, rather than seeing them primarily as given. Drawing on case studies of Microsoft in Juarez, Mexico, and Randstad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we study the interplay among institutional logics, voids, and social innovation practices to fill the voids. We find that organizational practices embedded in institutional logics can collide with social reality and hamper the attainment of organizational goals (void experience). This prompts MNEs to experiment with novel solutions embedded in distinct logics (void enactment) in alignment with the organization´s identity. By outlining an agentic model of void experience and enactment, we provide a fresh perspective on voids to international business scholars and call attention to the social constructivist roots of institutional theory in studying social innovation by multinationals in emerging markets.

Keywords: Institutional voids; Social innovation; Enactment; Multinational enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096959312400129X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:iburev:v:34:y:2025:i:2:s096959312400129x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/133/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... me/133/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102382

Access Statistics for this article

International Business Review is currently edited by P. Ghauri

More articles in International Business Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().