Locked in the Iron Cage? When Institutionalization Is (not) a Path-Dependent Process

Olivier Berthod and Jörg Sydow

Chapter 11 in Self-Reinforcing Processes in and among Organizations, 2013, pp 204-229 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In his influential essay, Powell (1991, p. 186) stresses how little we know about the genesis and emergence of institutions. To him, neo-institutional theory consequently fails to look at issues of reproduction adequately. Path dependence, in his opinion, could contribute to these issues, not least due to its endogenous focus on the constitution and distributed reproduction of collective rationalities. And yet, studies in the neo-institutionalism tradition continue to mention the concept of path dependence with little consideration for its theoretical foundations (e.g. Holm, 1995; Thornton, Jones, and Kury, 2005; Modell, Jacobs, and Wiesel, 2007). In fact, and as we will see later, path dependence is more often evoked for rhetorical purposes than for the usage of its analytical tools (for a similar criticism see Sydow, Schreyögg, and Koch, 2009). As a result, the potential of path dependence has not yet really been exploited by institutionalists.

Keywords: Path Dependence; Institutional Theory; American Sociological Review; Research Perspective; Institutional Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-39283-0_11

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230392830_11

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