Rediscovering the Macrofoundations of Institutions: Reflections on the Language of Institutional Theory
Macrofoundations: Exploring the Institutionally Situated Nature of Activity
ISBN: 978-1-83909-160-5, eISBN: 978-1-83909-159-9
Publication date: 26 November 2020
Abstract
In this reflective piece, the author engages with several themes that are oriented to the past, present, and future of institutional theory, to offer fresh insights for the next generation of theorizing. The author looks backward, tracing prevailing assumptions by investigating the language of theorization over the last eight decades, focusing on the frequency of use of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. What the author finds is a continuing emphasis on relatively static views of institutions and their permanence, indicated by the abundant use of nouns, but a relative neglect of more dynamic processes of institutionalization, reflected in verbs. Leveraging these observations, the author looks ahead, to identify fertile areas for theorization, including a consideration of the antithesis and/or synthesis between relating macrofoundations and microfoundations as antithesis or synthesis; examining the characteristics of institutional fields as contingencies of institutionization; and exploring the language of institutional theorization.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This chapter is based on the keynote address that the author delivered at the Fifth Triennial Alberta Institutions Conference, June 8, 2018, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The author is grateful to the conference organizers and the RSO editors for their invitation and for provoking the question “What of Macrofoundations?” It proved to be an immensely generative and intellectually rich inquiry. The author appreciates the support, feedback, and encouragement of the editors and conference attendees, as well as the invaluable research assistance of Cathy Hellard.
Citation
Glynn, M.A. (2020), "Rediscovering the Macrofoundations of Institutions: Reflections on the Language of Institutional Theory", Steele, C.W.J., Hannigan, T.R., Glaser, V.L., Toubiana, M. and Gehman, J. (Ed.) Macrofoundations: Exploring the Institutionally Situated Nature of Activity (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 68), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 203-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20200000068009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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