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Movement-Led Institutional Change: Uncertainty, Networks, and the Diffusion of Contentious Practices in Organizational Fields

Social Movements, Stakeholders and Non-Market Strategy

ISBN: 978-1-78754-350-8, eISBN: 978-1-78754-349-2

Publication date: 6 August 2018

Abstract

This paper develops an argument about how contentious changes unfold in organizational fields, focusing on the role of uncertainty – and the networks people use to address uncertainty. We propose that as controversial practice gains traction and spreads, the nature of uncertainty facing organizational decision makers also evolves. This dynamic has important implications for how different actors and networks can influence change. We illustrate our argument with a mixed-methods case study on the diffusion of domestic partner benefits across US Fortune 500 companies. Our findings shed light on how – and when – social activists, corporate elites, and middle managers can influence the corporate decision-making process.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This paper spent several years in the germination stage and has benefitted from the thoughtful inputs of many colleagues. We especially thank Brayden King, Barbara Gray, Jocelyn Leitzinger, Mike Lounsbury, Sarah Soule, David Strang, Wenpin Tsai, and participants in the 2008 European Group on Organization Studies, social movements track in Amsterdam, and the 2016 Community of Social Innovation meeting in Palo Alto. We are also grateful to the corporate and activist leaders who participated in interviews and assisted us in gathering materials used for this project.

Citation

Briscoe, F. and Safford, S. (2018), "Movement-Led Institutional Change: Uncertainty, Networks, and the Diffusion of Contentious Practices in Organizational Fields", Briscoe, F., King, B.G. and Leitzinger, J. (Ed.) Social Movements, Stakeholders and Non-Market Strategy (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 56), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20180000056005

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited