chapter 4 needs and motives - stanford university.docVIP

Microfoundations of Institutional Theory Walter W. Powell Jeannette A. Colyvas Stanford University Northwestern University Prepared for R. Greenwood et. al . (eds.) Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism Sage Publishers We are grateful to Marisa Bueno, Gili Drori, Mary Ann Glynn, Royston Greenwood, Tricia Martin, John Meyer, David Suarez and Megan Tompkins for helpful comments on an earlier draft. Research support for Powell provided by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and for Colyvas by the Columbia-Stanford Consortium on Biomedical Innovation. Introduction For almost two decades, scholars have stressed the need to make the microfoundations of institutional theory more explicit (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991; Zucker, 1991). Curiously, there has been limited progress in this effort, although the chapters in this volume by Barley, Glynn, and Sahlin also remedy this deficit. We think that much analytical purchase can be gained by developing a micro-level component of institutional analysis. Moreover, there are useful building blocks from ethnomethodology to Goffman on interaction rituals to Weick on sensemaking and social psychological research on legitimation that can be drawn on. We begin by making a case for the benefits of examining micro processes. We then selectively review the terrain, cobbling together useful, albeit disparate, lines of research and theory. The thrust of this chapter is generative and by no means intended as a comprehensive survey. From these diverse sources, we contend, a viable micro analysis of institutionalization can be developed. We apply our ideas to several contemporary issues, notably the rise of academic entrepreneurship in universities in the U.S. and the trend toward increased efforts at earned income by nonprofit organizations. These applications illustrate the analytical utility of our approach. We conclude with a discussion of res