Unpacking complexity: actors' work in the shaping of institutional contexts, processes, and outcomes
Date
2023-04-27
Authors
Chavez Ramirez, Juan Francisco
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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the different forms in which actors’ actions and interactions influence institutional fields, processes and outcomes. Using the oil pipeline industry in Canada as the empirical context, and a large dataset of hearing transcripts from the National Energy Board of Canada, I developed three empirical studies that highlight agency and variation, rather than determinism and isomorphism. Across the three studies, I rely on the literature on institutional work, institutional plurality, institutional complexity, and performativity. These bodies of work highlight the increasing pressure that organizations face to navigate contexts in which agentic actors skillfully mobilize a variety of demands stemming from multiple notions of value. In my first study (Article #1), I take a configurational approach to unpack the notion of institutional complexity and demonstrate that “not all complexity is created equal” – actors’ actions and interactions influence the presence and intensity of different complexity-related components, which in conjunction result in distinctive types of complexity. By differentiating among types of complexity, I was able to identify the conditions under which different organizational responses to complexity (e.g., avoid, hybrid, compartmentalized, or loose coupling) were more likely to be associated with different outcomes, such as legitimacy maintenance or loss. In my second study (Article #2), I take a quantitative approach to investigate the role of emotional language in institutional work under conditions of complexity. Through a set of statistical analyses, I demonstrate that the use of emotional language is mainly an actor’s choice rather than being determined by the type of concern mobilized (i.e., the institutional prescription). Likewise, we demonstrate that relying on emotional language enhances the effectiveness of disruptive institutional work but only around certain issues – when advocating for environmental issues, while the opposite is true for social issues (i.e., less emotional language enhances disruption). In my third study (Article #3), I take a grounded theory approach to investigate how marginalized actors affect change to advance and protect their interests in institutional fields that are adverse (or hostile) towards them. The change in question is the emergence of aboriginal monitoring programs in the oil pipeline industry, which imply the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples to be stewards of their territories and of the value of their knowledge systems in the identification, appraisal, and management of environmental impacts. I contribute to the literature by proposing the notion of institutional subversion as a form of institutional work through which marginalized actors can undermine notions of knowledge validity and power (or authority) governing a field in order to affect change.
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Keywords
Institutional complexity, Institutional work, Institutional plurality, Institutional theory, Performativity, Topic modelling, Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), Grounded theory, Institutional change