Field or fields? Building the scaffolding for cumulation of research on institutional fields

© Academy of Management, all rights reserved. The concept of an institutional field is one of the cornerstones of institutional theory, and yet the concept has been stretched both theoretically and empirically, making consolidation of findings across multiple studies more difficult. In this article, we review the literature and analyze empirical studies of institutional fields to build scaffolding for the cumulation of research on institutional fields. Our review revealed two types of fields: exchange and issue fields, with three subtypes of each. We describe their characteristics, and subsequently, review field conditions in the extant literature and develop a typology based on two dimensions: the extent of elaboration of institutional infrastructure and the extent to which there is an agreed-upon prioritization of logics. We discuss the implications of field types and conditions for isomorphism, agency, and field change, based on a review of the literature that revealed six pathways of field change and the factors affecting them. We outline a research agenda based on our review highlighting the need for consolidation of field studies and identify several outstanding issues that are in need of further research

Institutional entrepreneurship, governance, and poverty: Insights from emergency medical response servicesin India

We present an in-depth case study of GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute, an Indian public–private partnership (PPP), which successfully brought emergency medical response to remote and urban settings. Drawing insights from the case, we investigate how the organization established itself through institutional entrepreneurship using a process conceptualized as opportunity framing, entrenchment, and propagation. The case and context highlight the need for innovation in organizational design and governance modes to create a new opportunity that connects state actors, private healthcare providers, and the public at large. We consider the role of open innovation and novel business models in creating these service platforms. The implications of our findings for the literature on PPPs, institutional entrepreneurship, inclusive and open innovation, and organizational design in base of the pyramid contexts are discussed

An organizational model for understanding internationalization processes

We propose an organizational model for understanding internationalization processes. We argue that these processes differ with the type of organization. We compare the internationalization processes of three organization types: the mass production organization; the disaggregated production organization; and the project-based organization. Each organization type responds differently to critical elements of the internationalization process, namely, the focus of entry, the degree of presence and physical presence requirements in the foreign market, which in turn influence what modal forms are adopted as the process progresses. Consequently, we observe different approaches to resource commitment in the foreign market over time.