This study examines how peripheral actors accomplish institutional change in mature fields. More specifically, we focus on theorization as the element of this process that describes how actors form change models by problematizing existing institutional arrangements and identifying solutions to alter the existing order. Based on a longitudinal inductive study of a small social enterprise entering the mature field of global health, we explain how peripheral actors theorize change by accommodating the variety of issues, interests, and institutional arrangements in a mature field and how their theorization evolves in view of contestation from each of the field’s incumbents.
The paper advances scholarly understanding of theorization processes in institutional theory by developing a process model of how engaging with a progressively larger number of incumbents leads the peripheral actors to complexify their theorization through creating multiple change streams, elaborating their solutions, and synthesizing them into the master theorization, which enables them to secure the necessary endorsement and accomplish the desired change.
The speaker's biography is available on the personal website.
The seminar will be held in English.
Major information: Elisa Villani (e.villani@unibo.it).