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

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Self-Reinforcing Processes in and among Organizations

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.

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Authors
  1. Olivier Berthod
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  2. Jörg Sydow
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  1. Freie Universität of Berlin, Germany

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© 2013 Olivier Berthod and Jörg Sydow

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Berthod, O., Sydow, J. (2013). Locked in the Iron Cage? When Institutionalization Is (not) a Path-Dependent Process. In: Sydow, J., Schreyögg, G. (eds) Self-Reinforcing Processes in and among Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230392830_11

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