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Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Mats Alvesson

Professor

Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Neo-Institutional Theory and Organization Studies : A Mid-Life Crisis?

Author

  • Mats Alvesson
  • André Spicer

Summary, in English

We trace the development of neo-institutional theory in Organization Studies from a marginal topic to the dominant theory. We show how it has evolved from infancy, through adolescence and early adulthood to being a fully mature theory, which we think is now facing a mid-life crisis. Some of the features of this mid-life crisis include over-reach, myopia, tautology, pseudo-progress and re-inventing the wheel. To address these problems, we argue that institutional theorists should limit the range of the concept, sharpen their lens, avoid tautologies and problematize the concept. By doing this, we think institutional theorists could develop a narrower and more focused conception of institutions.

Department/s

  • Department of Business Administration

Publishing year

2019

Language

English

Pages

199-218

Publication/Series

Organization Studies

Volume

40

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Economics and Business

Keywords

  • development
  • identity
  • institutional theory
  • midlife crisis

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0170-8406