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Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 1 May 2019

Yafan Fu and Roine Leiringer

The paper aims to investigate the prevailing institutional logics that underpin the organisational behaviours of Chinese contractors and the institutional complexity they face

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate the prevailing institutional logics that underpin the organisational behaviours of Chinese contractors and the institutional complexity they face across several strategic areas when they undertake projects abroad.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The paper draws mainly on industry literature, reports and government websites to develop a typology of two ideal types of institutional logics that prevail among Chinese international contractors. The configurations of institutional complexity in different strategic areas are analysed through pattern-matching.

Findings

Two main logics are identified, namely, construction and investment logics. These logics in turn lead to patterns of volatile complexity in the strategic areas of business, technology, human resources and marketing; patterns of aligned complexity in operational and information technology strategic areas; and patterns of segregated complexity in financial strategic area.

Research Limitations/Implications

The paper presents an ongoing doctoral research. It provides a preliminary understanding of the institutional logics affecting Chinese international contractors and sets out the first step to understand the relationship between complex institutional environments and organisational responses.

Practical Implications

Chinese international contractors commonly face resistance, and at times resentment, from the local industries in the countries they operate. The findings of this paper are a first step towards a better understanding of why this is the case and what can be done to rectify the situation and improve long and short-term project performance.

Originality/Value

This paper provides practical implications for Chinese contractors to understand their internal context of institutional complexity and provides the basis for further understanding of Chinese contractors’ strategic responses.

Details

10th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-051-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2020

Sofia Pemsel and Jonas Söderlund

This chapter addresses the challenges associated with temporary organising under conditions of institutional complexity. The authors draw on findings from an in-depth case study…

Abstract

This chapter addresses the challenges associated with temporary organising under conditions of institutional complexity. The authors draw on findings from an in-depth case study of a megaproject initiated to reshape healthcare in Sweden. At the centre of this transformation was the construction of a new, ‘world-class’ hospital to replace the former (historical and renowned) university hospital. The authors posit that organising such projects is largely a matter of creating, responding to, and re-creating temporal institutional complexity. Thus, their study identifies four distinct response strategies – innovating, partial decoupling, avoiding, and surfing – on which project actors relied when dealing with the multiplicity of temporal institutional requirements. The authors propose a model for explaining how these strategies affected the temporal institutional complexity faced by the project. Their chapter adds to the literature on temporary organisations by highlighting the nature and dynamics of temporal institutional complexity and by revealing how inter-institutional temporary organisations cope with such complexity.

Details

Tensions and paradoxes in temporary organizing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-348-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 December 2022

Anna Earl, Snejina Michailova and Christina Stringer

This paper examines how Russian multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in the metallurgical industry strategise under the highly complex conditions of their home institutional

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines how Russian multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in the metallurgical industry strategise under the highly complex conditions of their home institutional environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings are based on a qualitative multiple-case study of eight Russian metallurgical MNEs that took place in 2014–2015. The authors conducted 34 semi-structured interviews, made observations and took reflexive field notes.

Findings

The analysis reveals that Russian MNEs utilise four different strategies–cooperation, persuasion, avoidance and adaptation–when dealing with federal and regional home governments. These MNEs simultaneously utilise multiple strategies while capitalising on their own organisational attributes.

Originality/value

Unlike many other studies, this paper examines institutional complexity within two distinct layers of the Russian Government, regional and federal, rather than considering the aggregate notion of “home government”. The paper also identifies and analyses MNEs’ specific strategies to navigate different layers of institutional complexity.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2020

Morteza Khojastehpour and Dima Jamali

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new trend that has swept the world of business by storm. With globalization proceeding unabated and CSR acquiring global interest and…

Abstract

Purpose

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new trend that has swept the world of business by storm. With globalization proceeding unabated and CSR acquiring global interest and resonance, examining how companies can make adaptations to their CSR in an international context becomes a timely and important issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on institutional theory, this study aims to identify three types of host country institutional complexity that accompany the internationalization process, namely, cultural, regulatory and economic, hence necessitating nuanced CSR adaptations in context and as illustrated in this paper requiring different tailoring and adaptation of CSR programs and interventions between developed and developing countries.

Findings

The authors propose a series of research propositions for exploration toward broadening and deepening the understanding of the above institutional complexities and the necessity of CSR tailoring and adaptation to accompany the internationalization process.

Originality/value

The paper is one of the first to highlight the necessity of CSR tailoring in the context of the internationalization process while considering host country institutional complexity highlighting nuanced differences between developed and developing country landscapes and implications for how multinational corporations should approach CSR in these differentiated environments.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2013

Paula Jarzabkowski, Michael Smets, Rebecca Bednarek, Gary Burke and Paul Spee

This paper develops a practice approach to institutional ambidexterity. In doing so, it first explores the ‘promise’ of institutional ambidexterity as a concept to address…

Abstract

This paper develops a practice approach to institutional ambidexterity. In doing so, it first explores the ‘promise’ of institutional ambidexterity as a concept to address shortcomings with the treatment of complexity in institutional theory. However, we argue that this is an empty promise because ambidexterity remains an organizational level construct that neither connects to the institutional level, or to the practical actions and interactions within which individuals enact institutions. We therefore suggest a practice approach that we develop into a conceptual framework for fulfilling the promise of institutional ambidexterity. The second part of the paper outlines what a practice approach is and the variation in practice-based insights into institutional ambidexterity that we might expect in contexts of novel or routine institutional complexity. Finally, the paper concludes with a research agenda that highlights the potential of practice to extend institutional theory through new research approaches to well-established institutional theory questions, interests and established-understandings.

Details

Institutional Logics in Action, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN:

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2013

Paula Jarzabkowski, Michael Smets, Rebecca Bednarek, Gary Burke and Paul Spee

This paper develops a practice approach to institutional ambidexterity. In doing so, it first explores the ‘promise’ of institutional ambidexterity as a concept to address…

Abstract

This paper develops a practice approach to institutional ambidexterity. In doing so, it first explores the ‘promise’ of institutional ambidexterity as a concept to address shortcomings with the treatment of complexity in institutional theory. However, we argue that this is an empty promise because ambidexterity remains an organizational level construct that neither connects to the institutional level, or to the practical actions and interactions within which individuals enact institutions. We therefore suggest a practice approach that we develop into a conceptual framework for fulfilling the promise of institutional ambidexterity. The second part of the paper outlines what a practice approach is and the variation in practice-based insights into institutional ambidexterity that we might expect in contexts of novel or routine institutional complexity. Finally, the paper concludes with a research agenda that highlights the potential of practice to extend institutional theory through new research approaches to well-established institutional theory questions, interests and established-understandings.

Details

Institutional Logics in Action, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-920-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 April 2014

Jared L. Peifer

This article explores how social actors negotiate the competing logics they face as a result of their work in organizations subject to institutional complexity. In particular, I…

Abstract

This article explores how social actors negotiate the competing logics they face as a result of their work in organizations subject to institutional complexity. In particular, I theoretically focus on the unique characteristics associated with societal institutional logics, such as religion, family, and the state. Empirically, I analyze religious mutual funds (Catholic, Muslim, and Protestant) in the United States that dwell at the intersection of the competing logics of religion and finance. Through interviews with 31 people who work at religious mutual funds (or fund producers) and content analysis of religious mutual fund material, I focus on the symbolic boundary work that religious fund producers engage in. I find examples of boundary blurring and boundary building and suggest institutional complexity that involves at least one societal logic is especially likely to foster both modes of boundary work. This, I propose, leads to an increased likelihood of enduring institutional complexity.

Article
Publication date: 10 November 2017

Maysara Sayed, Linda C. Hendry and Marta Zorzini Bell

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of institutional pressures, institutional logics and institutional complexity on Sustainable Supply Chain…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of institutional pressures, institutional logics and institutional complexity on Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices across mixed public and private sector supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

Multi-case study data were collected from three tiers of food and catering supply chains: the customer/consumer tier; focal public sector UK Universities; and private sector suppliers/contractors.

Findings

The findings indicate that: normative and mimetic pressures are more prevalent in focal Universities, compared to suppliers; there is typically no single dominant logic across these supply chains; and the multiplicity of institutional logics (e.g. sustainability logic versus financial logic) increases institutional complexity. Therefore, in the typical case of homogeneity in terms of institutional pressures and logics, e.g. with a dominant sustainability logic throughout the supply chain, radical change in SSCM practices is facilitated. In contrast, in the more typical case when there is heterogeneity, with competing logics at different supply chain tiers, this limits SSCM to more incremental changes in practices.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to three tiers of the food and catering supply chains of UK Universities.

Practical implications

To aid in the successful implementation of SSCM, this study suggests a need for managers to develop an initial understanding of the prevailing institutional logics and pressures at different tiers of the supply chain.

Social implications

A number of the SSCM practices studied address social sustainability.

Originality/value

No previous studies have empirically investigated the impact of institutional complexity in the context of SSCM practices across supply chains, involving both mixed public and private sector organisations.

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2024

David Martin Herold and Łukasz Marzantowicz

Neo-institutional theories and their constructs have so far only received limited attention in supply chain management literature. As recent supply chain disruptions and their…

Abstract

Purpose

Neo-institutional theories and their constructs have so far only received limited attention in supply chain management literature. As recent supply chain disruptions and their ripple effects affect actors on a broader institutional level, supply chains are confronted with multiple new and emerging, often conflicting, institutional demands. This study aims to unpack the notion of institutional complexity behind supply chain disruptions and present a novel institutional framework to lower supply chain susceptibility and increase supply chain resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors identify the patterns of complexity that shape the supply chain susceptibility, namely, distance, diversity and ambiguity, and present three institutional responses to susceptibility to increase supply chain resilience, namely, institutional entrepreneurship, institutional alignment and institutional layering.

Findings

This paper analyses the current situational relevance to better understand the various and patterned ways how logics influence both supply chain susceptibility and the supply chain resilience. The authors derive six propositions on how complexity can be reduced for supply chain susceptibility and can be increased for supply chain resilience.

Originality/value

By expanding and extending research on institutional complexity to supply chains, the authors broaden how researchers in supply chain management view supply chain susceptibility, thereby providing managers with theory to think differently about supply chains and its resilience.

Details

Management Research Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8269

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2021

Kwadwo Oti-Sarpong, Erika Anneli Pärn, Gemma Burgess and Mohamed Zaki

Government initiatives to improve construction have increasingly become more focused on introducing a repertoire of technologies to transform the sector. In the literature on…

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Abstract

Purpose

Government initiatives to improve construction have increasingly become more focused on introducing a repertoire of technologies to transform the sector. In the literature on construction industry transformation through policy-backed initiatives, how firms will respond to the demands to adopt and use innovative technologies and approaches is taken for granted, and there is scarcely any attention given to the institutional implications of transformation agenda. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these gaps and offer directions for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a synthesis of literature on the UK’s industry transformation agenda, the authors use the concepts of institutional logics, arrangements, complexity and strategic responses to suggest seven research questions that are at the nexus of policy-backed transformation and institutional theory.

Findings

In this paper, the authors argue that increasing demands for the adoption and use of digital technologies, platforms, manufacturing approaches and other “industry-4.0”-related technologies will reconfigure existing logics and arrangements in the construction industry, creating a problem of institutional complexity for general contracting firms in particular.

Originality/value

The questions are relevant for our understanding of the nature of institutional complexities, change, strategic firm responses, field-level dynamics and implications for the construction industry in relation to the transformation agenda. This paper is positioned to spur future research towards exploring the consequences of industry transformation through the lens of institutional theory.

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