This double volume presents a collection of 22 papers on how institutions matter to socio-economic life. In particular, the papers delve deeply into the practical impact an institutional approach enables, as well as how such research has the potential to influence policies relevant to critical...

In this Point–Counterpoint article we argue that institutional scholarship has become overly concerned with explaining institutions and institutional processes, notably at the level of the organization field, rather than with using them to explain and understand organizations. Especially...

This paper explores how legacies of past logics spawn variation in the institutional landscapes of different geographic regions in China. Of particular interest is how this variation influences the ways that actors interpret and respond to broader societal and world society pressures. Employing...

How organizations cope with multiple and sometimes conflicting institutional demands is an increasingly familiar yet little understood question. This paper examines how four French business schools responded to demands that they internationalize their management education whilst retaining their...

The general study of organizational change and the specific development of the concepts of transformation and transition has come about in a way which is typical of organization theory. On the one hand there were increasing theoretical and methodological criticisms of the 1970s...

Max Weber’s influence upon the study of organizations has been profound, perhaps unrivaled. But his contemporary relevance is less certain. This special issue celebrates the achievements of Weber and, at the same time, reflects on his current influence. Contributors vary in their assessment...

The uniqueness of professional service firms (PSFs) has been well established. Accounting, law, engineering, and management consulting firms are known to differ significantly from both traditional manufacturing and service organizations in their organizational and managerial arrangements. Their...

Three decades! Founded in 1980, Organization Studies is, today, an established and important fixture of the intellectual landscape. For some, it seems only yesterday that the journal made its initial, bold appearance as the official publication of EGOS, itself a (then) relatively recent...

This special issue had it roots in a symposium organized by Tammar Zilber and Roy Suddaby for the Academy of Management 2003 annual meetings in Seattle. The symposium was titled "Reclaiming the Symbolic in Institutional Theory" and represented an effort to refocus research attention on the...