Linda A. Hayes, Cam Caldwell, Bryan Licona and Thomas E. Meyer
The purpose of this paper is to further research in the leader-follower relationship by focussing on followership. Given the need to increase organizational collaboration and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further research in the leader-follower relationship by focussing on followership. Given the need to increase organizational collaboration and cooperation, this research identifies the nature of follower buy-in behaviors and characteristics and develops a continuum of increasing follower compliance to stewardship with the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
This research integrates the insights of highly regarded researchers into a continuum of follower compliance to stewardship and proposes 12 propositions of leaders and followers that address the importance of creating an environment for improved collaboration and cooperation which ultimately leads to increased organizational competitiveness and profitability.
Findings
A continuum of increasing follower buy-in is proposed with the first four zones drawn from past literature (indifference, acceptance, trust, and commitment) and a fifth zone, follower stewardship, being introduced in the paper. The authors argue that understanding and fostering follower behaviors along the continuum improves organizational effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers a framework of follower behaviors and characteristics and proposes 12 hypotheses of leaders and followers to improve competitiveness and profitability that can be tested in future research.
Practical implications
This paper provides valuable insights to scholars and practitioners by creating a framework of follower buy-in behaviors and characteristics that will allow leaders to increase the effectiveness of organizational culture, practices, and procedures. The research proposes 12 hypotheses of leaders and followers that can be tested for improving organizational competitiveness and profitability.
Social implications
The paper identifies barriers to creating followership including under-investing in human capital, treating followers as means rather than as ends, thinking short-term, breaking commitments, and so on.
Originality/value
The research develops a solid theoretical background for categorizing and measuring follower buy-in to organizations and introduces follower stewardship to management research.
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A key tenet of the modern nation-state – embedded in the notion of progress – is the belief that our children can lead better lives than our own. Trust in the possibility of…
Abstract
A key tenet of the modern nation-state – embedded in the notion of progress – is the belief that our children can lead better lives than our own. Trust in the possibility of upward mobility for future generations drives movements of families around the world, and, indeed, drives the spirit of capitalism. In today's world, the notion of mass access to educational opportunity is a key element of the dream of upward mobility. This ideal is manifest in the huge public investment in schools that all nations must make, no matter how rich or poor, to signify membership in modern society.
Michael Lounsbury, Deborah A. Anderson and Paul Spee
Volumes 70 and 71 of Research in the Sociology of Organizations combine to comprise cutting edge theory and empirical scholarship at the interface of practice and institution in…
Abstract
Volumes 70 and 71 of Research in the Sociology of Organizations combine to comprise cutting edge theory and empirical scholarship at the interface of practice and institution in organization studies. As we highlight, this interface has spurred particularly generative conversations with many open questions, and much to explore. We provide a review of scholarly developments in practice theory and organizational institutionalism that have given rise to this interest in building a bridge between scholarly communities. As signaled by recent efforts to construct a practice-driven institutionalism, we highlight how connecting practice theory with the institutional logics perspective provides a particularly attractive focal point for scholarship at this interface due to a variety of shared ontological and epistemological commitments, including the constitution of actors and their behavior. Collectively, the papers assembled unlock exciting opportunities to connect distinct, but related scholarly communities on practice and institution, seeding scholarship that can advance our understanding of organizational and societal dynamics.
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Michael Lounsbury, Deborah A. Anderson and Paul Spee
Volumes 70 and 71 of Research in the Sociology of Organizations combine to comprise cutting edge theory and empirical scholarship at the interface of practice and institution in…
Abstract
Volumes 70 and 71 of Research in the Sociology of Organizations combine to comprise cutting edge theory and empirical scholarship at the interface of practice and institution in organization studies. As we highlight, this interface has spurred particularly generative conversations with many open questions, and much to explore. We provide a review of scholarly developments in practice theory and organizational institutionalism that have given rise to this interest in building a bridge between scholarly communities. As signaled by recent efforts to construct a practice-driven institutionalism, we highlight how connecting practice theory with the institutional logics perspective provides a particularly attractive focal point for scholarship at this interface due to a variety of shared ontological and epistemological commitments, including the constitution of actors and their behavior. Collectively, the papers assembled unlock exciting opportunities to connect distinct, but related scholarly communities on practice and institution, seeding scholarship that can advance our understanding of organizational and societal dynamics.
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Renate E. Meyer, Dennis Jancsary and Markus A. Höllerer
We review and discuss theoretical approaches from both within and outside of institutional organization theory with regard to their specific insights on what we call “regionalized…
Abstract
We review and discuss theoretical approaches from both within and outside of institutional organization theory with regard to their specific insights on what we call “regionalized zones of meaning” – that is, clusters of social meaning that can be distinguished from one another, but at the same time interact and, in specific configurations, form distinct societies. We suggest that bringing meaning structures back into focus is important and may counter-balance the increasing preoccupation of institutional scholars with micro-foundations and the related emphasis on micro-level activities. We bring together central ideas from research on institutional logics with some foundational insights by Max Weber, Alfred Schütz, and German sociologists Rainer Lepsius and Karl-Siegbert Rehberg. In doing so, we also take a cautious look at “practices” by discussing their potential place and role in an institutional framework as well as by exploring generative conversations with proponents of practice theory. We wish to provide inspiration for institutional research interested in shared meaning structures, their relationships to one another, and how they translate into institutional orders.
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The current study examines public accountants' professionalism and professional commitment (PC) and their effect on job performance. Results provide support for four of five…
Abstract
The current study examines public accountants' professionalism and professional commitment (PC) and their effect on job performance. Results provide support for four of five dimensions of Hall's (1968) professionalism framework (beliefs in professional affiliation, professional dedication, self-regulation, and social obligation) and Meyer et al.'s (1993) three-dimensional PC framework (affective, continuance, and normative professional commitment) for modeling public accountants. Support was also found for most of the hypothesized relationships between professionalism and PC. Beliefs in professional affiliation, professional dedication, and self-regulation positively influenced affective professional commitment (APC). Belief in professional affiliation was negatively influenced by continuance professional commitment (CPC) but positively influenced by normative professional commitment (NPC). Belief in social obligation was also positively influenced by NPC. As expected, professionalism and PC were associated with job performance. Professionalism had an incremental effect beyond PC on job performance and as well, PC had an incremental effect over professionalism on job performance. Identifying relationships between professionalism and professional commitment with desirable outcomes is important for justifying future investments in the public accounting profession. Understanding these issues will assist in determining the types of professional attributes and commitments that are and should be fostered by the accounting profession.
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Hokyu Hwang and Jeannette Colyvas
The growing interest in the microfoundations of institutions is a significant, yet surprising development given that the theoretical tradition’s original insight was to account…
Abstract
The growing interest in the microfoundations of institutions is a significant, yet surprising development given that the theoretical tradition’s original insight was to account for macro, institutional influences on lower-level units. The call for microfoundations has gone on without really clarifying what institutionalists mean by microfoundations. Some reflections on the usefulness or purpose of establishing the microfoundations of institutional theory are in order. The authors advocate for treating the micro as part of pluralistic and multi-level accounts of institutional processes. Central is the conceptualization of actors as more or less institutionalized identities and roles.