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As the processes of market liberalization and globalization increase the confidence of international actors involved in national third sectors, there exists a cosmopolitan tension between 'mobile elites' and 'locked in' nationals. This paper explores the impact of these tensions on the social enterprise ecosystem in the Republic of Poland and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Focused on the internationalized mechanisms of support, the relationship between the social enterprise incubators and international stakeholders, and power distance inherent to the global versus local debate, the findings suggest that normative isomorphic pressures are causing a fundamental ecosystem shift. The monopolization of support and terms of reference have led to entrepreneurs detrimentally being treated as 'organizational heroes' risking burnout, the primacy of international voices within the local context, and the transference of nationals from being 'locked in' to national processes to being 'locked out' of national support. The research suggests the cosmopolitan‐led transformation of activists into entrepreneurs needs to be more carefully considered, to ensure that enforced alignment to international system does not alienate them from other sources and means of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new stage. The principal social contradiction is the uneven development of urban and rural areas. The rural revitalization strategy has emerged as time has required. The realization of rural revitalization not only requires development to lay the foundation of the countryside but also requires governance to lead the development of the countryside. Development and governance are two indispensable aspects of rural revitalization. However, China's rural areas have long been in a state of development without governance, and this situation must change. Therefore, systematically exploring the relationship between development and governance is the key to solving the current shortcomings in rural areas. Methods: Based on the data from the statistical yearbook, the study constructed a set of evaluation indicators for rural development governance and revitalization and verified the model's effectiveness.The entropy method and the assessment model were used to calculate the comprehensive score of rural development, governance, and revitalization. The relationship between rural development and governance was analyzed using a coupled coordination model. The regression analysis model was used to explore the relationship between the coupling results of rural development, governance, and rural revitalization. Results: From the comprehensive results, both development and governance show an upward trend, but the upward trend of development is better. From the analysis of coupling coordination between development and governance, the C value is in good condition, the T value fluctuates wildly, and the D fluctuates with the fluctuation of T. Judging from the comprehensive score of rural revitalization, it also shows an upward trend year by year. Judging from the regression analysis results of coupling coordination degree and rural revitalization comprehensive score, coupling coordination degree will significantly impact the rural revitalization evaluation value. Conclusions: The study found that current rural development and governance present a spiral coupling coordination relationship, and the degree of coupling coordination significantly correlates with rural revitalization. Based on the research conclusions, the study further proposes three paths to promote the coupling and coordination of development and governance. The first is an organizational isomorphism, which builds a coupled coordination system for rural development and governance. The second is to tilt resources and improve the supply of connected and coordinated factors for rural development and governance. The third is the operating mechanism to optimize rural development and governance's coupling and coordination path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilateral development bank (MDB) engagement with 'gender' is controversial in review and uneven in practice. The authors analyse 1,928 gender-focused projects financed by the World Bank and regional development banks between 1967 and 2021. We propose three eras into which MDB gender engagement divides and argues that isomorphic pressures have aligned their approaches. The article concludes that gender is not an investment priority and projects have conceptually narrowed over time to focus on private entrepreneurship at the expense of addressing systemic gendered inequalities. This is significant for what the MDB finance signals to investors the feasibility of development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral education in Europe has changed significantly in the last two to three decades. This transformation, visible in the structuring dimensions of doctoral education, appears to indicate a move to a more instrumental approach. This paper aims to determine the prevalence of an instrumental concept of doctoral education in Portuguese universities. It draws on the findings of a 2020 study that focused on how these institutions are adhering to this concept. The study relied on the analysis of the information disclosed by the institutional websites of 118 doctoral programmes, selected to be representative of all the doctoral offer in the country. Findings suggest the existence of a hybrid concept of doctoral education among Portuguese universities, which is revealed by its association sometimes with a traditional concept, other times with an instrumental concept, or with a combination of both. Especially in these two last cases, the influence of academic capitalism and isomorphic pressures is evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article tests three contextual factors, including institutional boundary conditions, core beliefs and professional managerial practices, to analyse the local adaption of a Western social innovation to China. With a case study of 23 semi-structured interviews of stakeholders in China and the Netherlands and content analysis of these data, the article aims to examine the facilitating and hindering effects of institutional isomorphism on transnational social-innovation diffusion. The results indicate that social innovations face diverse pressures of isomorphism that necessitate their capitulation to homogeneity within the environment. Some isomorphic processes within the organization, however, may counterbalance external pressures in the long run. This article contributes to a better understanding of the transnational diffusion of social innovation between two different institutional and cultural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) has transformed from what some termed a "social movement" to an institutionalized sector with numerous organizations and practitioners involved, resulting in trends that point toward SDP becoming a recognized category of work through professional training. The purpose of this paper is to utilize theories of professions and institutional isomorphism to advance the significance and importance of thinking about SDP as a profession. Three emerging trends that point to the professionalization of SDP are reviewed: (a) increasing opportunities to attain SDP certifications and training, (b) the growing number of SDP-specific academic degrees, and (c) the creation of a SDP knowledge base, particularly in relation to monitoring and evaluation. To conclude, theoretical and practical implications of the professionalization of SDP are discussed and a research agenda is outlined for future research on the continued institutionalization, and professionalization, of the SDP sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an investigation of Canadian U15 faculty experiences with workload a common concern emerged regarding expansions to the bureaucratic and managerial functions of the university that negatively affect faculty members. These functions overlap with concerns about research ethics when Offices of Institutional Analysis (OIA) evaluate research projects, often justified as limiting faculty and student survey fatigue. Yet, secondary reviews by OIAs frequently manifest as additional ethical reviews, seeming to arise from a notion of paternalism whereby universities treat constituencies as property to be managed and controlled. Students, staff and faculty are constructed as being protected by this review process, framed as the University's moral imperative. These bureaucratic add-ons negatively affect faculty, adding stress to initiating already complex research programs, thereby alienating research faculty. OIAs are normally established and governed by administrators and non-academic staff; they are, therefore, immune from direct faculty input and oversight. We raise concerns about institutional isomorphism, suggesting that discussion and possibly intervention are needed to prevent universal adoption of these processes throughout higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embedding its own branches in private enterprises is the governance strategy that the Communist Party of China (CPC) controls the grassroots society. This study proposes a framework by incorporating the socioemotional wealth theory into neo-institutionalism to explain how are family businesses involved in the organizational network of the CPC. Findings reveal that there is an organizational isomorphism that the coverage of party organizations expanded from non-family businesses to family businesses. Furthermore, family businesses are not likely to establish party organizations when coercive pressures are low. However, this resistance strategy sharply disappears when coercive pressures are high, and joining state-backed industry associations and mimicking others' practice both are also positive factors motivating family businesses to establish party organizations, which means that the coercive, normative and mimetic mechanisms jointly shape the organizational isomorphism. This study contributes to the literature of neo-institutionalism and sheds new light on the state-society relationship in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates franchising decisions in the food and beverage industry by incorporating an institutional perspective and an organizational learning perspective to account for both economic and social factors. Adopting a qualitative approach, multiple-case-study analysis is conducted on international franchise brands in the food and beverage industry. The results indicate how each type of franchise network – underdeveloped, developing, and developed – achieves coercive and mimetic isomorphism and how that leads to distinctive implications for both the franchisor and the franchisee. This research fills the gap in the franchising literature by providing insights into knowledge-transfer practices and institutional isomorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greene situates techno-solutionist public policy in the historical-political context of 1990s policy discourse about the "digital divide" and the economic context of Washington, DC, after the 2008 recession. How has the problem of poverty been subsumed under the domain of technology policy in the United States, and what are the implications for public institutions? Greene also brings STS intuition to policy analysis by rejecting the inevitability of the access doctrine and tracing its origin to the political and economic interests of the Atari Democrats. [Extracted from the article]

The stark contrast between strategic and traditional foundations regarding how they can trace the individual grantee measures to grant impact to overall foundation impact undoubtedly impacts how foundations apply field-oriented approaches. Namely, strategic foundations were more likely to believe they could evaluate the impact of each grant and then assess the broad impact of the foundation based on that, while foundations utilizing a traditional model were more hesitant to see their impact as easily summed up and more willing to view success as unique to each grant and their overall impact as more diffuse. To answer these questions, I interviewed 10 foundation officers from six foundations and two consultants that serve as advisors to foundations like those in my sample. Foundations might find it more authentic to track results at a higher level and note how the foundation's investments might have contributed to changes in areas of interest (e.g., how did a particular reform movement to which the foundation contributed progress). Keywords: civil society; educational policy; educational reform; foundations; institutional isomorphism; institutional theory; philanthropy EN civil society educational policy educational reform foundations institutional isomorphism institutional theory philanthropy 1511 1544 34 07/19/23 20230901 NES 230901 Introduction Over the past three decades, the quantity, size, and scope of private philanthropy in the United States has rapidly expanded. [Extracted from the article]

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers states increased flexibility in how they identify, rank, label, and support underperforming schools. Initial reviews of state ESSA plans, however, suggest that identification and labeling policies have remained relatively unchanged. In this study, we analyze all state ESSA plans to systematically determine how states' identified Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools and the criteria they set for those schools to exit CSI status. We describe our findings through the theory of institutional isomorphism, noting the many ways states responded similarly to ESSA. We close by considering what the lack of innovation in response to ESSA flexibility might mean for the future of educational policy and the implications for schools identified as underperforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) becoming business-like is a contested issue. Some understand the adoption of business-like practices by NPOs as a case of adopting rational myths through institutional isomorphism and thus potentially dangerous for NPOs' ability to fulfill their unique societal roles. Others are more optimistic, arguing that technical rationality is possible in the adoption of business-like practices, and that such practices can therefore support NPOs in fulfilling a wide range of societal roles. Drawing on survey data of NPOs in Flanders, we examine the relationship between the extent to which NPOs use business-like practices, and the extent to which they engage in various societal roles. We find that business-like practices are weakly related to NPOs' societal roles. All roles are positively related to nonprofit managerialism and unrelated to NPOs' reliance on commercial funding. Our results suggest that a certain optimism regarding the rational use of business-like approaches is justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars assert that, worldwide, doctoral provision is increasingly characterised by accelerated scales of production, competitive funding, centralised administration, and interdisciplinary, cohort-based training. The situation in the UK appears to mirror this picture but scholars have long noted that national settings mediate the forms that broader trends take. We therefore examined the case of the UK’s social science doctorates, which have seen both marked growth and a range of policy changes, to explore the potential extent of alignment with these trends. Invoking institutional isomorphism, a conceptual framework which asserts how convergence can be driven by different factors, we interviewed senior staff at a range of UK HEIs to examine the activities and underlying rationales behind their social science doctoral provision. We were able to establish that, while there is a degree of isomorphism around their social science doctorates, this is a complex and uneven situation because different kinds of HEIs are subject to a varying combination of simultaneous and often conflicting forces. Our analysis highlights not only how the relationship between national policies and higher education culture can be fraught, but also how organisations’ individual positioning and history has implications for how they are able to act in policy contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper investigates institutional isomorphism within English social housing through the theoretical lens of strategic performance management. By employing a multiple case study analysis, we uncover how external isomorphic pressures are sensed within the organization as a strategic dissonance through its strategic performance management system. Housing Associations (HAs) need to respond to these ‘sensed’ external changes by adapting their internal strategic performance management, which are then measured and reported in a rapidly changing external environment. We argue that by focusing on changes in managing performance, organizational performance can become a lens by which the internalization of isomorphic pressures in social housing can be studied. A conceptual framework for social housing has been developed to study how HAs manage their performance in a rapidly changing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education research (EER) is a growing and increasingly globally connected field. Understanding cultural and contextual factors is fundamental to EER and further is critical to enabling fruitful international collaborations. The purpose of this research is to understand how engineering education researchers experience and understand EER in Australia and the United States to better facilitate future international collaborations. This research draws on eight interviews conducted with participants who had significant experience carrying out EER in both the United States and Australia and ranged in their career status. Two key domains of comparison emerged from the data: 1) The landscape: Structure and resources of EER in each context, and 2) How the landscape plays out: Implications on EER studies and collaborations. Our analysis finds extremely different research environments for EER in Australia and the United States, the implications of which can be explained in par by resource dependency theory and institutional isomorphism. Our results can inform and enhance future collaborations across these national contexts and help researchers identify opportunities for symbiotic research relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing attention to electoral brands, political scientists have largely remained "color blind," neglecting parties' chromatic choices. Moreover, scholars dedicated limited attention to how party organizations converge on the use of similar structures and communication strategies, thereby engaging in a process of institutional isomorphism. We seek to simultaneously fill both gaps by examining the logos of more than 300 parties in 35 democracies during the latest political elections. Our findings show that a strong relationship exists between ideology and the use of certain color hues: left-wing party logos mainly display hues at the red end of the color spectrum, while blue hues prevail among right-wing parties. Likeminded parties' chromatic isomorphism, however, is moderated by country and party-specific factors. Notably, the correlation between color hue and ideology is stronger in Western Europe and among older parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that there are overlooked yet important journalistic beliefs, norms, rules and practices regarding, aesthetics, automation, distribution, engagement, identity, and proximity that could be a part of formalized codes of ethics. There are four reasons why these should be formalized. First, making the implicit normative dimensions explicit allow for a shared understanding of journalism, cutting across institutional borders. Second, it promotes a more unified and homogenized understanding of journalism across the institution based on those shared explicit norms (normative isomorphism). Third, it reduces the fuzziness of these codes and sharpens their functions as boundary objects, simplifying the negotiation between journalists and audiences. Fourth, and finally, these implicit codes might be an untapped resource that could make journalism better connect with citizens and increase its legitimacy. The paper offers two main contributions to journalism studies. First, it shows that elements of journalistic practice and culture that seem disparate in fact play similar institutional roles, forming boundary objects as sites of tension where codes are negotiated by different actors. Second, systematizing these informal codes into the style of traditional codes of ethics renders them more visible and could help journalism scholars understand the uneven formation and evolution of journalistic norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is widely considered the lifeblood of organizational survival and growth. However, despite its importance, innovation diffusion does not take place spontaneously in organizations. In fact, diffusion of innovations (DoI) in project-based organizations (PBOs) is widely considered notoriously lukewarm. Nevertheless, it is inspiring to observe that project teams could suddenly change their lukewarm attitude in DoI when they receive pressure from the authority and industrial associations, or when they notice their peers starting to adopt an innovation. There seem to be some isomorphic pressures such as coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures that drive DoI. This research aims to identify the source factors of the isomorphic pressures that can be used to catalyze innovation diffusion with a focus on construction PBOs. It does so by conducting a 3-year in-depth case study in an international construction firm using a mixed-method approach including semiconstructed interviews and nonparticipatory observations. The research identified 12 specific source factors under the three categories of isomorphic pressure, i.e., coercive pressure, mimetic pressure, and normative pressure. Coercive pressure can arise from organizational policy, company culture, and influence from seniors; memetic pressure can stem from the influence of peer project teams as well as change agents such as innovation champions; and normative pressure derives from the sharing in regular events/meetings and related training. The practical contribution is that based on the source factors identified, top managers can tactically create such pressures to catalyze DoI meanwhile avoiding excessive pressures that might hinder DoI in their companies. Future studies are recommended to unravel the mechanism through which these source factors interact to take an effect, and based on that, devise the strategies that can harness the isomorphic pressures to boost DoI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the economic-financial and operational performance of Health Plan Operators (HPO), before (3Q2018-4Q2019) and during the pandemic (1Q2020-2Q2021) under the theory of institutional isomorphism. Method: This is descriptive documentary research that uses statistical techniques to compare medians (Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis) and correlation (Spearman) between performance and socioeconomic indicators, considering the five Health Plan Operators (HPO) with the largest number of beneficiaries. Results: A statistically significant reduction was observed, after the beginning of the pandemic, for the indicators of profitability, expenses, cost variation, and financial result. On the other hand, there was a growth in current liquidity and an increase in the mean receipt timeframe of payments (CRPM) and event payment (PMPE). The performance comparison shows that in the pandemic, profitability and PMPE were no longer significantly different. As for the association between the variables, the unemployment rate shows the highest number of relationships with the performance indices. Theoretical/methodological contributions: Highlights the performance of the five largest OPS, considering the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic period, considering that these companies can be directly affected by the potential increase in demand for health care by their beneficiaries. By the theoretical prism of institutional isomorphism, these companies are references for the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the basic institutional rules attributed powers to the Autonomous Communities with which to design and structure their public administration, based on a model of institutional isomorphism. At present, the autonomous public sector is of unequal nature in terms of organisation, motivated by decisions taken in its regulation during the process of transformation and innovation of the res publica in recent decades. This paper aims at reviewing the processes of administrative change and modernization, where a reflection on the evolution of organisational theory from a neo-institutionalist perspective is assumed. Hence, professional public management arises as a tool able to help public administrations face current challenges that put at risk their sustainability in the 21st century, especially during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, institutionalism and professionalization, beyond seeming to be mutually exclusive concepts, must be combined from a neo-weberian perspective. This study analyses the public political-administrative subsystem in the Autonomous Community of Cantabria to check the correlation between the degree of politicisation of the senior civil service and the legislation on professional public management in the last decades of institution-building in this Autonomous Community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Until now, very little empirical research has focused on social media adoption behavior within relatively small firms, and fewer still on adoption drivers within the specific context of microentrepreneurs, including that of micro-retailers. The purpose of this manuscript is to contribute to the study on social media adoption at the firm level by focusing on the specific role of institutional pressures, as captured by coercive, mimetic and normative pressures, in the initial adoption of social media in the context of micro-retailers. Design/methodology/approach: This study, based on self-administered questionnaires, collected data from more than 200 micro-retailers in an emerging market and utilized the partial least squares modeling approach. Findings: Findings reveal that normative and mimetic (not coercive) pressures are critical to initial adoption. Additional analysis, though not directly the center of attention in the study, indicates that both coercive and normative pressures are critical to continued adoption, especially for retailers who currently use social media to promote their businesses. Originality/value: This study represents one of the few attempts to extend the institutional theory to study social media adoption behavior in the firm. In addition, it is the first in the literature to extend the theory to social media adoption within the context of microenterprises, primarily micro-retailers, who form the significant majority in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research lags behind in illuminating theoretical mechanisms that shape governance decision-making on board practices. Using an integrated theoretical approach, I examine how board interlock network and institutional factors are associated with board governance policy adoption in nonprofit organizations. A linear regression model is employed to investigate policies adopted by a panel of public charities in three cities in Upstate New York during 2008 and 2014. Results show that not only the presence of board interlock networks but also central network positions relate to extensive policy adoption. Results also reveal that the use of paid professionals in management relates to institutional isomorphism reflected by more extensive governance policy adoption. These results provide insights for nonprofit leaders seeking to facilitate good governance practices by paying attention to board members' affiliations and institutional environment considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to understand the role of isomorphic pressures in adopting criteria for revenue recognition performed by accounting firms. Empirical evidence was collected through interviews with eight plural agents who permeate the firms' reality and are interested in the revenue recognition process. The content analysis of the interviews created analysis categories that allowed testing the research propositions. In conclusion, normative and coercive isomorphic pressures play a leading role in the criteria adopted by accounting firms for the recognition of revenue in the customers' accounts. The scope of the organizational legitimacy of the firms, concerning revenue recognition, is obtained as far as they meet the expectations of different external agents, especially those of fiscal nature, even if these expectations differ from those criteria provided for in CPC 47. Furthermore, the present research also discusses theoretical and empirical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External program manager involvement can provide professional and systematic management services to owners. It can help to manage and coordinate different subprojects and ensure the achievement of the overall strategic goals of large projects. The promotion of external program manager involvement is not only efficiency-driven, but the institutional environment also has a significant impact. This study developed a theoretical model to explain how external program manager involvement is influenced by external institutional forces (coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures) and internal top management support. Based on a questionnaire survey, this study tested the research model through partial least-squares structural equation modeling. The empirical results revealed that coercive pressures have no significant impact on external program manager involvement; owners' top management support acts as a complete mediator between the mimetic pressures and external program manager involvement; normative pressures have the greatest impact on top management support and external program manager involvement, and top management support plays a key but partially mediating role. A direct contribution of this study is to reveal how different types of isomorphic pressures can be better exercised to facilitate the involvement of external program managers. Going further, by incorporating both external institutional pressures and internal top management support into the research model, this study provides insight into how organizations are influenced by external institutions to apply tools or approaches internally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though many countries in Latin America have adopted FOI Laws, there are significant differences in the institutional design of FOI oversight institutions. Most explanations highlight the role of political competition in motivating political actors to design strong de jure FOI oversight institutions. The design of FOI oversight institutions in Chile, Peru and Uruguay, however, cannot fully be explained by political competition. We show how isomorphic pressures help explain variation in the de jure strength of the FOI oversight institutions. Our findings highlight the importance of considering domestic constraints on the diffusion of one‐size‐fits‐all models. To analyze each case, we conducted a systematic process‐tracing analysis. Our in‐depth analysis allowed us to assess different theories concerning the specific institutional design of FOI oversight institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the Concept Development and Experimentation (CD&E) approach which has been developed and implemented in NATO over the last 20 years. NATO's CD&E approach is explained as an organisational innovation and institutional response to external and internal pressures. Within the theoretical framing of institutional isomorphism, the paper analyses the adoption of CD&E in the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The research hypothesis is that the EU will adopt and apply NATO's CD&E approach in the EU's defence planning and capability development process. The empirical findings from the analysis of the EU policy practice, however, show that CD&E has actually been adopted from NATO and applied by the EU to a very limited extent. The low degree of isomorphism between NATO and the EU with regard to applying CD&E is explained by a complex set of factors. The research results have broader implications, suggesting that under the current institutional settings it is highly unlikely CD&E to be adopted by other international organisations in the field of international security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-oriented policing (COP) is arguably the most popular and most misunderstood policing philosophy. Definitional ambiguity contributes to this problem, hampering theoretical development, creative new strategies of implementation, and evidence-based policy. DiMaggio and Powell's seminal piece on institutional isomorphism provides a framework for understanding the organizational vagueness of COP, including the processes of homogenization of priorities and structures across police organizations. We propose several new dimensions of COP, developed using police mission statements from a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies (N = 2,826). These emergent dimensions (Shallow Community-Oriented Policing, Responsivity, Legitimacy, Constitutionality, and Inclusivity) provide new avenues of theoretical consideration of the COP construct. Exploring these novel elements may strengthen existing community-oriented strategies and encourage creative policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, the Studio Schools model, focused on developing employability skills in young people, represents a disruptive attempt at educational innovation. Through a documentary analysis of foundational documents, interviews with the model's architects and case studies of five Studio Schools, we map the tensions between theoretical conceptualisations of the model and the messy realities of implementing it. We found that the schools faced a wide range of challenges related particularly to local inter‐school competition, centralised accountability measures and structural assumptions about the 'gold educational standard'. When facing these challenges, the course of least resistance for the schools was an iterative abandonment of the distinctive aspects of the Studio Schools model and a move back towards mainstream approaches to schooling. This process of institutional homogenisation is discussed through the lens of neo‐institutional theory, with the challenges schools faced and their trajectories framed in terms of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism. We argue that the use of isomorphism as a heuristic device provides important insight into the process of educational innovation in an educational system that combines competition and the risk of market failure with coercive accountability measures and embedded assumptions about the 'gold standard' schooling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main tasks of the armed forces is to recruit and select future soldiers and to identify potential officers. However, these procedures may have a wider societal impact beyond the borders of the military organization itself. This study aims to examine how compatible assessments of military leadership potential are with those in the labor market. Using longitudinal data concerning a large cohort of Swedish males who underwent mustering during the early 1970s, we analyzed the association between officer suitability assessments and managerial role occupancy at age 50 to 55, while controlling for socio-demographic factors in childhood and adulthood. We found a high level of predictability, whereby those who were ranked highest were four times more likely to hold managerial positions than those with the lowest ranking. Results are discussed in relation to perceptions about leadership skills and possible institutional isomorphism between the armed forces and other societal organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Quality management has become an integral part of management reforms in public sector organizations. Drawing on a new institutionalist perspective, this study aims to investigate the relation of management reforms and organizational performance in the context of higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyse the interaction between isomorphic conformity in quality management adoption, organizational learning and quality improvement and, in so doing, address the central theoretical question of what effects isomorphic conformity has on organizational performance. Empirically, the study draws on survey data from quality managers at public higher education institutions in Germany. Methodically, it applies confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings: The results suggest that mimetic isomorphism is surprisingly compatible with processes of organizational learning, and thus, does not inevitably compromise organizational development. Originality/value: By presenting these findings, the authors contribute to the controversial theoretical debate concerning the effects of isomorphism and to the ongoing discussion regarding the organizational impact of quality management in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014 the League of Arab States (LAS) adopted a statute to establish the Arab Court of Human Rights (ACtHR). However, the proposed court has been strongly criticised for, inter alia, failing to provide for the right of individual petition. Consequently, the statute has failed to receive sufficient ratification and the process of establishing a supranational human rights enforcement mechanism has stalled. This article considers the complex conflict of institutional logics that may explain this failure. On the one hand, the legitimacy and perceived legitimacy that comes with an effective human rights regime creates an isomorphic pressure on the Arab states and the LAS to establish a supranational human rights enforcement mechanism. On the other hand, this pressure is opposed by the conflicting logics arising from the Arab world's reaction to orientalism, from cultural relativism, and from sovereignty, particularly in the context of authoritarian political systems. It is submitted that, because the proposed ACtHR would be only weakly legitimate, the motivational pressure on LAS member states to ratify the statute and establish the court is insufficient to overcome the pressure from those conflicting logics. It is, however, argued that cultural relativism should be seen, not as an impediment, but as a motivation for establishing an effective and legitimate supranational human rights court. Acting as a 'norm-broker', such a court may help to resolve the tension between the currently conflicting logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the relative efficiency of graduate programs in terms of the quality of their scientific publications in journals. To this end, we applied Data Envelopment Analysis to the fields of Public and Business Administration, Accounting, and Tourism, using data from the 2017 Quadrennial Evaluation developed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior ["Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel", CAPES]. The results suggest that efficient graduate programs are concentrated in the center-south axis of Brazil, in the areas of Administration and Accounting. Despite the overall publishing strategy in journals of various ranks (strata), efficient graduate programs allocate their efficiency primarily to Qualis A1 journals, A1 being the excellence rating in the CAPES scale. We conclude that legitimized research practices pressure graduate programs to improve the quality of their publications while threatening the survival of programs that fail to conform to the assessment rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case study of the development of a rural continuum of care (CoC) program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a coherent system of services and planning processes to end homelessness. It concerns how the founding local coalition of agencies managed internal conflicts about HUD's changing programmatic and administrative requirements from 1994 to 2015. It addresses the coalition's relationship with HUD, intracoalition conflict between secular and faith-based agencies over federal requirements, and the workarounds developed to keep local divisions over service modalities from harming the larger project. Through this lens, we analyze the pressures for conformity intrinsic to the relationship between federal agencies and nonprofit grantees. We conclude that HUD and its CoC grantees have interdependent aims that limit the exercise of federal authority. Federal project grants may neither necessarily nor typically transform nonprofits in the image of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We analyzed the impact of board directors with foreign experience on the accounting and market performance of companies listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange (B3). Originality/value: We show unpublished empirical evidence about the relationship between the foreign experience of board directors and the performance of Brazilian firms. Knowing this relationship better contributes to the formulation of internal policies for the qualification of senior management, in addition to being valuable to shareholders, especially in a context of weak legal protection, as it is in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: We collected data from 230 companies between 2010 and 2016, submitted it to unbalanced panel data regressions using the Systemic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM-Sys). Findings: The results suggest that the higher the proportion of board members with academic and professional foreign experience, the lower their accounting and market performance. This finding can be justified by institutional isomorphism, in which having an experience abroad would be a myth, a status institutionalized by the Brazilian society. In addition, foreign owners and directors face cultural barriers and would have less knowledge of the local environment, which would increase information asymmetries, impacting negatively in firms' performance. On the other hand, an increase in the number of foreigners on the board positively influences the market value of companies, since, by having weaker local power networks and, consequently, less possibility to obtain private benefits, the investors could value companies with this characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International relations scholarship has paid insufficient attention to security providers' tendency to emulate the visual attributes of other actors in an attempt to (re)construct their identities and increase their legitimacy by signalling adherence to prevailing norms. Research on the discourses deployed by private military and security companies (PMSCs), for instance, has relied almost exclusively on the analysis of written documents. This article argues that even basic visual units like logos serve as windows into the genealogy and evolution of the international market for force. By combining insights from Peircean semiotics and institutionalist theory, I show that PMSCs' logos are not only marketing tools, but also symbolic acts that shed light upon the shifting identities and legitimization strategies of the international private security industry. Specifically, I argue that PMSCs' logos can be conceptualized as forms of camouflaging, blame-shifting, mirroring and socialization into corporate identities. These overlapping processes have reshaped the international private security industry brandscape, informing a shift away from the use of logos displaying symbols and colours borrowed from military visual identity systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between institutional pressure of national carbon pricing policy and the voluntary environmental disclosures (VED) of electricity-generating firms. Using a sample of 103 firms from forty-four countries for 2015–2017, we find that the implementation of carbon pricing policies at the national level increases the VED quantity significantly. Put differently, firms located in the carbon pricing countries disclose more environmental information than those in non-carbon pricing countries. Besides, we also provide evidence that firms adopting internal carbon reduction strategies disclose more information than firms with no carbon reduction strategies. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view of the coercive isomorphism branch of the institutional theory that the government's policy for one aspect of environmental issues (i.e., emissions reduction) may have a pervasive indirect impact on the other environmental aspects (i.e., VED) of the organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains how jail diversion introduced in one Midwestern county changed its focus over time from persons with serious mental illness (PSMI) to persons with opioid use disorder (POUD). Applying the theory of institutional isomorphism, the authors use both qualitative interview and quantitative program data to explore the isomorphic pressures that caused programming change resulting from an opioid addiction crisis at the expense of arrested PSMI not appropriate for treatment with Vivitrol®. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutionalism is a theoretical approach to the social sciences, particularly political science, which studies society from its formal and informal institutions and their effectiveness. In other words, we refer to an analytical tool that allows us to understand the behavior of organizations. The objective of this document is to provide a theoretical-conceptual framework regarding institutions and their study in organizations to generate a chronological comparability in terms of the changes that are accentuated in institutionalism and its relationship with organizations. This implies incorporating the documentary research technique in order to know the trajectory of the New Institutionalism, its typology and its institutionalized forms in organizations based on isomorphism, coercive, mimetic and normative. At this point, our hypothesis supports that the theoretical-conceptual scaffolding of the New Institutionalism gives us a tool for the analysis of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between geographical leadership mobility and policy isomorphism is rarely discussed in the extant literature. We argue that the geographical leadership mobility encourages local executives to converge their development experiences in their original working jurisdictions and their current positions. The distinct Chinese political personnel system provides an ideal environment that allows researchers to examine the isomorphic effects of geographical leadership mobility. This research builds a dataset of local social spending between 1998 and 2011 as well as a database of the leadership mobility history of provincial executives in China. Results of the spatial panel analysis (SPA) demonstrate that the geographical leadership mobility (i.e., horizontal, top‐down, and bottom‐up) of governors stimulates the regional isomorphism of provincial education and health care spending. The empirical findings affirm the effectiveness of the effort of the Chinese central government in narrowing the regional inequality of social welfare provision through the geographical mobility of local leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The form of internal university governance is often based on the phenomena of institutional isomorphism within examinations of legitimacy. Under the background of the "CPC leadership + unbalanced governance" state governance model, Chinese universities need to break away from the preconceived notions of balanced governance in their internal governance. From a generative logic perspective, the basic institutional framework of the internal governance of Chinese universities and its changes and improvements are determined by mandatory government interference, and this also leads to the unbalanced characteristics of three "strong-weak" relationships in the internal governance of Chinese universities. Outside the formal institutional system, balancing mechanisms such as internal supervisory restrictions, internal division of labor consultations, and public opinion restrictions act as effective supplements to the unbalanced internal governance of Chinese universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to test and analyze the consensus of organizational strategy with the contingency of organizational culture and isomorphism pressure which have an impact on organizational performance moderated by human capital. The survey is conducted to the owners/managers of Batik Micro Small Medium Entreprises (MSMEs) in 18 villages in Pekalongan, Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach: The data collecting is using questionnaire and interview to some owner/managers and leader of the Batik group. Pekalongan is a city of Batik that has Batik MSMEs spread in every area of the villages. Therefore, the sampling technique used in this research includes two stages: proportional area random sampling and purposive sampling. 17 MSMEs were taken as samples in each village. Furthermore, after selecting 17 MSMEs, the study used purposive sampling technique with a sample size of 170 MSMEs. This research uses three variables: isomorphism, organizational culture, and organizational strategy measured by semantic scale and use two bipolar typologies. As for organizational performance, it is measured using Likert scale. The data analysis technique is using Euclidience Distance Simple Regression with contingency approach and moderation of Euclidience Distance Simple Regression. Findings: These results provide are; (1) The higher the alignment degree between imitation strategy and hierarchy culture, the higher the organizational performance will be; (2) The higher the alignment degree between innovation strategy and adhocracy culture, the higher the organizational performance will be; (3) Human capital strengthens the consensus of imitation strategy with the contingency of hierarchy culture and benign isomorphism, so that the organizational performance is higher; (4) Human capital does not strengthen the consensus of innovation strategy with the contingency of adhocracy culture and hostile isomorphism, so that the organizational performance is higher. Research limitations/implications: The sampling technique of this research is done using purposive sampling, so it is feared that it cannot generalize to the existing population. The data collection also uses primary data with measurement approach based on the owner/manager perceptions, which sometimes still requires assistance and good understanding for the respondents. Organizational performance will be increase if the condition of hierarchy culture, benign isomorphism, and imitation strategy are supported by the moderation role of human capital that can strengthen the relationship with organizational performance. Practical implications: The higher the alignment degree between imitation strategy and hierarchy culture, the higher the organizational performance will be. If the organization tend to choose imitation strategy, it is more emphasizes on low market pressure, support from government regulation, low public and media pressure, and stable politic and safety, and vice versa. Originality/value: This research wants to fill the research gap by examining the importance of having an alignment of organization strategy (Imitation vs Innovation) related with the contingency of organizational culture (Hierarchy vs Adhocracy) and isomorphism pressure (Benign vs Hostile) so that Batik MSMEs entrepreneurs can further improve their organizational performance (operational performance and environmental performance). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of all African regional organizations, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is the one that has most explicitly followed the model of the European Union (EU), emulating key EU institutions and practices. WAEMU's mimicry of the EU is puzzling, considering the economic, political and geographical differences between the European and the West African regional contexts. This article argues that, in order to understand WAEMU's trajectory, it is necessary to look at two interrelated factors: on the one hand, the WAEMU's history of colonial legacies and post-colonial dependence; on the other, its drive to mimic similar institutions that are seen as embodying the standards of modernity and legitimacy. The WAEMU's isomorphism has been an outcome of external pressures, but also a response to uncertainty and a result of professionalization. Institutional isomorphism has had a mixed impact on the effectiveness of the organization, helping it to sustain its legitimacy but also stifling endogenous development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The student exhibition is a format and a genre which is both under-theorized and under-historicized. It is not properly contextualized or explored within the field(s) of contemporary art, curation or fine art pedagogy. This paper maps, analyses and discusses the student exhibition in terms of the format, the potential, and the institutional agencies, with reference to the relevant pedagogic literature as seen in relation to the wider field of contemporary art practice, exhibition practice, and curatorial praxis. For this article, the central example of the student exhibition is the degree show. This event is not just the 'showcase' for individual students or cohorts, it is the public face of the institution. This is notable because it positions the student exhibition in general and the degree show in particular as a nexus between the vision and reputation of the institution and the individual student's artistic production and future career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have adopted long‐term care social insurance (LTCI) systems to face the growing "aging crisis" in their countries. The comparative scholarship suggests the diffusion of the Japanese model among East Asian states. Bridging policy learning, agenda setting, and historical institutionalist approaches, this study comparatively examines how ideational and institutional processes have impacted political competition and ultimately the adoption of LTCIs in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. I argue that each country's LTCI design differs greatly from one another, displaying distinctive forms of institutional bricolage—not institutional isomorphism. In this process, time has been a crucial factor. Time affects ideational, institutional, and political processes differently. The relative weight of ideational and institutional processes at a particular moment in time and their evolution over time has a significant impact on whether policy change occurs, and whether this change may gradually undermine the logic of welfare regimes. Related Articles: Butz, Adam M., Michael P. Fix, and Joshua L. Mitchell. 2015. "Policy Learning and the Diffusion of Stand‐Your‐Ground Laws." Politics & Policy 43 (3): 347‐377. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12116 Cho, Sungik, and Yool Choi. 2017. "Convergent or Divergent? The Hidden Dynamics of Institutional Changes in the Labor Markets and Social Welfare Systems in South Korea and Japan." Politics & Policy 45 (4): 594‐625. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12208 Maags, Christina, and Ioan Trifu. 2019. "When East Meets West: International Change and its Effects on Domestic Cultural Institutions." Politics & Policy 47 (2): 326‐380. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12296 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin American countries have undergone a growing interest in international accounting standards. Several countries are making progress in the adoption of international standards driven by different internal factors as well as external dynamics. THE role of experts in the design of public policies associated with international standards has been studied by the epistemic community theory, which is the theoretical framework used in this study to address the influence of different international organizations on the adoption of IPSAS in Brazil and Colombia. Th is paper discusses the isomorphic institutional pressure exerted over the governments of these two countries in order to meet an international standard considered to be adequate. Meanwhile, the emerging trend towards the adoption of IPSAS in Latin America continues to grow, although some obstacles to achieving the goals defined in the reform arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to analyze whether Institutional Development Plans (IDP) are strategic documents or simply a response to seeking legitimacy in the face of regulatory pressures. This is a qualitative study based on information from 20 IDPs of Brazilian universities, categorized as private, public, community, or confessional. To analyze the IDPs, the content analysis methodology was used. As a result, it was found that most IDPs are much more descriptive documents, with operational goals and plans, than documents with strategic characteristics. On the other hand, in most of the documents analyzed, there was evidence of the importance and relevance of constructing an IDP as a benefit for the management and the university organization as a whole. It was concluded that IDPs tend to be documents that seek to provide universities with legitimacy in relation to the actors involved. In other words, they converge towards institutional isomorphism. Thus, they are not prepared, and used only due to institutional demands, but mainly due to legal impositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration of categories and informative extracts about migratory flows and from the concepts of entropy and neguentropy was the objective of the present study. A documentary work was carried out with an intentional selection of sources related to the subject. A balanced structural composition was found between informative indicators and the categories, but the research design limited the results to the informative sample, suggesting the extension of the work with the inclusion of the isomorphism category that the literature highlights as the effect of the establishment of a public agenda on migratory flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: Research on the patterns of philanthropic funding of charter schools has largely focused on the behavior of major foundations. This work has documented how the once diffuse giving by these major foundations has become increasingly concentrated on a small number of jurisdictional challengers in the form of charter schools, charter management organizations, and intermediary organizations. Purpose: The current study examines whether this convergence in giving has spread to the entire network of foundations giving to charter-school-related organizations. We do so by extending current work and focus on the broader institutional field that includes the interactions between major foundations, smaller foundations, and grantees over time. Moreover, we look to see, if such a field-wide convergence is present, whether there is evidence consistent with the institutional process of isomorphism in which low-status foundations match the giving strategy of higher status ones. Research Design: We test for these dynamics using exponential random graph models (ERGMs), a hypothesis-testing framework for network analysis. More specifically, we analyze the funding ties among 809 foundations that gave grants to California charter schools and charter-school-related organizations between 2003 and 2014, as available through the Foundation Directory Online. We constructed multiyear windows to examine funding ties between foundations and recipients, using organizational characteristics, such as foundation type, foundation year, professionalization, foundation size, organizational type, and location, and endogenous features of the network as independent variables. Findings: Results indicate centralization of giving over time, as larger and newer foundations began practicing more targeted giving and the most connected recipients were involved in a disproportionate number of funding ties. We also found evidence consistent with institutionalization, as foundations with professional staffs played a larger role in giving, and smaller foundations increasingly engaged in behavior similar to their larger peers over time. Finally, we found evidence for the consistent effect of propinquity: We observe co-funding and co-receiving ties between foundations and grantees in geographical proximity to each other. Conclusions: This work examines the network dynamics of charter school philanthropic giving and provides evidence for the centralization and institutionalization of the field. In turn, this may create inequity in funding for charter schools because it may be more difficult for smaller or less ideologically popular organizations to penetrate the field. Policy makers should be aware of these forces and should take them into account when making budgetary and funding decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitization and its impact on regions and clusters remains overlooked in the literature, and constitute this present paper's goal. How does an industrial district transit collectively to the adoption of new radical changes brought about by Industry 4.0? This study explores the role of collective actors and innovation platforms during the early stages of a pilot policy to stimulate a collective transition of an entire MID (Marshallian Industrial District) into Industry 4.0. We posit that institutional isomorphism and the existent social capital in MIDs is a double-sword phenomenon that can also positively constitute an enabler for fostering change on a collective-basis. Technology transitions, such as Industry 4.0, can be supported and led by collective actors that are central in facilitating the adoption of Industry 4.0 in MIDs, enticing innovative firms to engage in that transition, establishing, legitimizing, and embedding a new set of processes, practices and inter-firm arrangements for digitizing and then promoting imitation: the positive leverage of isomorphism. Thus, MID transition is facilitated through capitalizing on the MID logic of cooperation-competition and isomorphism, by developing and promoting a collective understanding of the new paradigm, building a supportive infrastructure, educating in the new technology and avoiding cognitive inertia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]