The relevance of neo-institutionalism for organizational change

Abstract

This essay reviews the literature and discusses the utility of neo-institutionalism for organizational change in public administration. Neo-institutionalism theory has been characterized as focusing on the similarities of organizations (isomorphism) and the stability of organizational arrangements in a field of organizations. However, in the past two decades, greater attention has been paid to how neo-institutional theory contributes to an understanding of change. This has been done by examining the following: the types of change considered; drivers of organizational change; and reasons for investigating public organizations and the reasons they help gain insight; and research results, including the types of methods used. Neo-institutionalism presents an effective framework to conduct public organization research on organizational change and for public administration practice for several reasons.