Unlocking the institutionalization process: insights for an institutionalizing approach

Abstract

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.