Agency in collective action: the role of Afro-Colombian community leadership in local economic development in the Colombian Pacific region

This thesis studies the role of rural Afro-Colombian leadership on the promotion of collective action for economic development. Specifically, the formal leadership established by Law 70 of 1993, which granted communities collective property rights over their territories. No study has so far focused specifically on the role of Afro- Colombian community leadership. Eighty-three in-depth semi-structured interviews, 3 focus groups, 541 household surveys and a geo-referenced database of illicit crops in the municipality of Buenaventura provided data for the analysis. The role of leadership is analysed in three interrelated phenomena: development of community enterprises, collective resistance to illicit crops and the provision of development aid. This research characterises the exercise of leadership as a form of brokerage. Three central functions of leadership are identified: First, the transition from governance structures associated with a common property regime to those needed for developing community enterprises demands from leaders the adaptation and translation of logics inherent in two or more epistemic contexts or institutional spheres of action. Second, communities with stronger leadership and capacity for collective organisation are more able to resist the influx of illicit crops due in large part to the ability of leaders to infuse social capital with specific normative meanings. Third, the provision of aid for development is sustained by a system of short-term incentives that prevents communities from seeking more advantageous development outcomes. Leaders are key elements in this system for they act as intermediaries who share the collective benefits from aid but reap individual rewards. This leads to conflicts of representation that undermine legitimacy for leaders and their communities. This research contributes to theories of leadership and entrepreneurship in collective action and studies of leadership in subaltern or non-elite groups in Colombia and similar contexts

Using institutional logics as cultural resources: a micro-perspective on organizational hybridity

How is organizational hybridity constructed at the micro-level? This overarching question is the starting point of this doctoral research. Studies to date suggested institutional entrepreneurs can combine institutional logics to create hybrid organizations. However, simply designing an organization as a hybrid does not a hybrid organization make. Instead, unsettle times within organizations may well provide an opportunity for organizational members, other than founders and entrepreneurs, to deploy available institutional logics as cultural resources. As a consequence, hybridity is constructed as an ongoing process. Yet, little is known about the logics available to organizational members in such settings, how these logics are deployed or with what outcomes to the organization. In this thesis, I adopt a social constructionist perspective to examine the active role played by organizational members at the micro-level, in constructing organizations as hybrids. Such an approach adds to studies challenging assumptions, within the extant literature, that hybridity is imposed upon organizations, potentially negative and requiring responses or management. In order to do so, I explore a recently established Community Interest Company (CIC) to shed light on how organizational members deploy available logics in relation to organizational form and identity. Overall, my empirical research leads me to: first, refine the idea of institutional logics as cultural resources within organizations; and second, show how organizational members affect organizational hybridity by deploying logics and interacting with other organizational members, leading to different outcomes. In doing so, this research answers calls to analyse the role of the micro-level in hybrid organizational research. Furthermore, it addresses gaps in the institutional logics literature related to how, and to what end, logics are used as cultural resources in organizations, and with what organizational outcomes. On a practical note, this research can potentially support members of hybrid organizations to incorporate and balance multiple institutional and organizational aspects, achieving the positive potential of hybridity

Using institutional logics as cultural resources: a micro-perspective on organizational hybridity

How is organizational hybridity constructed at the micro-level? This overarching question is the starting point of this doctoral research. Studies to date suggested institutional entrepreneurs can combine institutional logics to create hybrid organizations. However, simply designing an organization as a hybrid does not a hybrid organization make. Instead, unsettle times within organizations may well provide an opportunity for organizational members, other than founders and entrepreneurs, to deploy available institutional logics as cultural resources. As a consequence, hybridity is constructed as an ongoing process. Yet, little is known about the logics available to organizational members in such settings, how these logics are deployed or with what outcomes to the organization. In this thesis, I adopt a social constructionist perspective to examine the active role played by organizational members at the micro-level, in constructing organizations as hybrids. Such an approach adds to studies challenging assumptions, within the extant literature, that hybridity is imposed upon organizations, potentially negative and requiring responses or management. In order to do so, I explore a recently established Community Interest Company (CIC) to shed light on how organizational members deploy available logics in relation to organizational form and identity. Overall, my empirical research leads me to: first, refine the idea of institutional logics as cultural resources within organizations; and second, show how organizational members affect organizational hybridity by deploying logics and interacting with other organizational members, leading to different outcomes. In doing so, this research answers calls to analyse the role of the micro-level in hybrid organizational research. Furthermore, it addresses gaps in the institutional logics literature related to how, and to what end, logics are used as cultural resources in organizations, and with what organizational outcomes. On a practical note, this research can potentially support members of hybrid organizations to incorporate and balance multiple institutional and organizational aspects, achieving the positive potential of hybridity