EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Moving from an Exception to a Rule: Analyzing Mechanisms in Emergence-Based Institutionalization

Jeannette A. Colyvas () and Spiro Maroulis ()
Additional contact information
Jeannette A. Colyvas: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Spiro Maroulis: Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Organization Science, 2015, vol. 26, issue 2, 601-621

Abstract: We analyze the conditions under which a practice moves from rare and unacceptable to preponderant and legitimate through bottom-up, relational processes. To better understand the mechanisms and contingencies of such “emergence-based institutionalization,” we combine computational agent-based modeling with insights from a setting where a seemingly deviant local practice became institutionalized: the case of the emergence of proprietary disclosure in the academic life sciences. Our approach results in both theoretical and methodological contributions. From a theoretical perspective, we develop propositions related to microlevel processes that lead to the institutionalization of new rules or those that leave existing arrangements unchanged. Our analysis suggests that traditional social explanations, such as organizational reproduction and copying successful peers, are less likely to drive emergence-based institutionalization than cognitive factors that direct individuals to anticipate and preempt the actions of others. From a methodological perspective, we provide an example of how case analysis and computational modeling can be combined to study the varying and contingent roles that normative, social, and cognitive factors play in persistence and change in institutionalization.

Keywords: institutional theory; technology transfer; organizational evolution and change; computer simulations; entrepreneurship; organizational learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0948 (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:inm:ororsc:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:601-621

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:601-621