Approaching adulthood: the maturing of institutional theory

I summarize seven general trends in the institutional analysis of organizations which I view as constructive and provide evidence of progress in the development of this perspective. I emphasize corrections in early theoretical limitations as well as improvements in the use of empirical indicators and an expansion of the types of organizations included and issues addressed by institutional theorists.

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W. Richard ScottEmail:

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W. Richard (Dick) Scott   is currently Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Stanford University. He has remained at Stanford for his entire professional career with courtesy appointments in the Graduate School of Business, School of Education and School of Medicine. He directed an interdisciplinary research training program on organizations research supported by NIMH from 1972 to 1987, and served as the founding director of the Stanford Center for Organizations Research (SCOR) from 1988–1995. His major publications include three monographs, Evaluation and the Exercise of Authority (1975, with Sanford M. Dornbusch), Hospital Structure and Performance (1987, with Ann Barry Flood), and Institutional Change and Healthcare Organizations (2000, with Martin Ruef, Peter J. Mendel, and Carol A. Caronna); and three texts, Formal Organizations (1961, with Peter M. Blau), Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural and Open System Perspectives (2007, with Gerald F. Davis), and Institutions and Organizations (2008). He is currently collaborating with colleagues in the education to study the role of advocacy groups in inducing institutional change, and with colleagues in engineering to study institutional factors affecting the success of global projects.