Research Details

Abstract

Although researchers have acknowledged that not all institutional change results from the intentional efforts of relatively reflexive actors, we lack an explanation of how mundane interactions between actors can result in non-strategic institutional change. To address this, we advance the theory of institutional drift that reveals how the practice deviation(s) that occur between interaction partners in an institutional order, transformed into tolerable deviations by the self and others, can lead to the non-strategic transformation of that institutional order. Our framework extends the interactionist perspective in organizational institutionalism by showing how interpersonal interactions are animated and constrained by people’s passionate attachment to the fundamental sacred ideals, or ethos, underlying institutional orders. It is this connection with ethos that animates the interactional processes tied to both maintaining and disrupting institutions.

Type

Article

Author(s)

Maxim Voronov, MaryAnn Glynn, Klaus Weber

Date Published

2022

Citations

Voronov, Maxim, MaryAnn Glynn, and Klaus Weber. 2022. Under the radar: Institutional drift and non-strategic institutional change. Journal of Management Studies.(3): 843-850.