The evolution of the Italian Temporary Work Agency field: A path dependence perspective

Over the last few years, the concepts of organizational path and path dependence have become a topic of increasing interest in the new institutional debate. Our concern is to understand why organizations do not change their organizational forms and managerial practices despite institutional pressure for change. We argue that this phenomenon can be explained by means of the path dependence approach; we assume that path dependence is stronger than institutional pressure. In this context, the paper aims to analyse the process of path creation in the Temporary Work Agency field. The field is characterized by strong institutional logics embedded in a wider societal order. For our in-depth longitudinal analysis we studied the Temporary Work Agency field in Italy over a 25-year period (1986-2009).