Unlocking the Institutionalization Process: Insights for an Institutionalizing Approach

Ano: 2005 | Volume: 2 | Número: 1

Autores: Clóvis L. Machado-da-Silva, Valéria Silva da Fonseca, João Marcelo Crubellate

Palavras-chave: institutional theory, institutionalization, social structure, agency, interpretive schemes

Resumo Inglês:

The neoinstitutional theory has been characterized by some scholars in the field of organizational studies as a
supposedly deterministic approach. We will demonstrate in this paper that this characterization cannot be
impinged on the neoinstitutional perspective in a generalized way, but only to a dichotomic reading of it, that is
typical of monoparadigmatic views of the process of institutionalization. With this demonstration, we defend the
idea of the institutional theory as a multiparadigmatic theory. To this end, we present arguments for a recursive
approach of the institutionalization process, highlighting that the notions of structure, agency and interpretation
are more suitably dealt with when defended as fundamental elements of institutionalization as a recurrent,
guaranteed process that is conditioned, not determined, by a certain degree of stabilization of social systems. We
conclude the essay with methodological considerations on the consequences of the use of the proposal for a
recurrent systemic-process approach of institutionalization for the development of research in the field of
organizational studies.