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Embodied and Reflexive Agency in Institutional Fields: An Integrative Neo-Institutional Perspective of Institutional Change

ISBN: 978-1-78769-124-7, eISBN: 978-1-78769-123-0

Publication date: 25 November 2019

Abstract

Neo-institutional theory has been criticized for equating the macrolevel with the realm of unconsciously constraining institutions and the microlevel with the realm of actors’ reflexive agency and the origin of change. Considering the co-constitution of the macro and micro, the authors propose that change can be explained through reflexivity at the microlevel and through unconscious processes that affect the macrolevel. This chapter contributes to neo-institutional theory’s microfoundation by distinguishing four types of institutional changes. It will help institutionalists to become more explicit about what cognitive processes and what field conditions are related to what kinds of agency and change.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank editor Jost Sieweke, an anonymous reviewer, and participants at the first meeting of the Microfoundations of Institutions network at VU Amsterdam who provided helpful comments.

Funding: This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under Grants WA 2139/16-1.

Citation

Goldenstein, J. and Walgenbach, P. (2019), "Embodied and Reflexive Agency in Institutional Fields: An Integrative Neo-Institutional Perspective of Institutional Change", Haack, P., Sieweke, J. and Wessel, L. (Ed.) Microfoundations of Institutions (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 65A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-152. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2019000065A015

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited