Organizational institutionalism in the academic field in Brazil: social dynamics and networks.
| Autor | Filho, Edson Ronaldo Guarido |
| Cargo | Report |
Introduction
The field of organizational studies has broadly developed over the past fifty years. In the course of these five decades, different theoretical perspectives have been developed and put to the test, making it a highly creative period. Different rational models have been contrasted and also combined with others that place emphasis on political or cultural dimensions, showing the growing concern over broader levels of analysis and different facets of the environment (Scott, 2001).
In this context, one perspective in particular has been increasingly highlighted: organizational institutionalism, notably its sociological realm (Dacin, Goodstein, & Scott, 2002; Farashahi, Hafsi, & Molz, 2005; Machado-da-Silva & Fonseca, 1993; Mizruchi & Fein, 1999; Scott, 2001). According to Greenwood, Oliver, Sahlin and Suddaby (2008), the institutional theory is probably the dominant approach in organizational studies. In their turn, Haveman and David (2008) state that it constitutes the predominant perspective in the submissions to the Organization and Management Theory Division at the recent annual meetings of the Academy of Management. In Brazil, data of this nature are not yet available, but the adherence of researchers and the growing number of studies from this perspective is notable, according to Machado-da-Silva, Fonseca and Crubellate (2005), Rossoni (2006), Caldas and Fachin (2007) and Guarido Filho (2008).
From the point of view of the sociology of knowledge, we consider it important to understand the social processes involved in the construction of scientific knowledge regarding to the intellectual program of the field. In this sense, it would be plausible to raise the question of how the institutional perspective program evolved and how much it has been gaining in prominence in the scientific community. Before that, however, it is necessary to map the development of organizational institutionalism, and it was with this purpose in mind that we sought in this article to trace the trajectory of the institutional perspective in the field of organizational studies in Brazil from empirical data concerning the scientific publications ranging from 1993 to 2007. We also use the expression organizational studies to include works classified as strategy in organizations on Brazilian territory, as it does not make sense to treat them separately when the institutional analysis perspective is used.
Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the institutionalization of the institutional theory in organizational studies in Brazil from descriptive indicators of a longitudinal base that portray the origin and the expansion that has taken place in recent years.
To this end, the article has been organized into four sections in addition to this introduction. In order to position the reader on the aspects upon which this article is based, the first section deals with our preliminary considerations concerning organizational institutionalism and the construction of scientific knowledge. This is followed by a description of the methodological procedures we have used in the empirical examination of articles published in national academic outlets over the period 1993-2007. The results are presented in the third section, where we discuss through network analysis and bibliometric indicators (i) the quantitative expansion of the number of researchers and papers based on organizational institutionalism, (ii) the network structure of cooperation among researchers and (iii) the theoretical framework of the papers in terms of the most cited authors. Conclusions and analytical implications are presented in the last section.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Concerning Organizational Institutionalism
The institutional theory reflects transformations that occurred in the field of organizational studies, especially from the mid nineteen sixties, a period marked by works in favor of the open systems models (Scott, 1995). However, it differs from classic studies of organizations in the notion of the environment, no longer treated as an entity that lies outside the organization. This was due to (i) the greater focus on environmental attributes that are more specific to the interorganizational relationship instead of aspects that influence structures or behaviors of individual organizations, such as scarcity and complexity; (ii) the expansion of the level of analysis from a single organization and its closest partners to populations, communities and organizational fields; and especially (iii) the consideration of other environmental facets that involve symbolic aspects in the form of social and cultural elements that act in conjunction with the economic and material dimension (Scott, 1995).
Under the institutional perspective, attention is paid to the relationship of mutual influence between organizations and organizational fields on the one hand and broader normative and cultural structures on the other. This perspective pays attention to how institutionalized values in society permeate organizational structures and forms, considering it necessary to enrich analyses of instrumental aspects with reflections on cultural and symbolic elements in the organizational study. In this sense, legitimacy, often associated with adaptation and acceptability of social values, arises as a relevant category of analysis that is at the least equivalent to the importance ascribed to technical efficiency (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Scott, 2001). Thus, institutionalization is a process conditioned by the logic of conformity to socially accepted norms and the incorporation of a knowledge system constructed throughout social interaction, which constitute parameters both for action and for the conception of reality of social actors. Organizations, in this sense, articulate their behavior and structures in relation to the characteristics of the institutional context in search of legitimacy and social acceptance (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Scott & Meyer; 1991).
In synthesis, we can state that, in organizational studies, this approach pays special attention to institutional aspects of the environment, in conjunction with their technical dimension. In this sense, it considers the implications concerning action and organizational behavior, but also investigates themes connected to the understanding of processes of production, maintenance and transformation of social norms and the ascension of institutional structures and organizational forms, encompassing their relationship with the influence of formal and informal norms, institutional change and cultural beliefs, among other matters (Powell, 1991; Scott & Meyer, 1991).
Concerning the Construction of Scientific Knowledge
We agree, in accordance with Astley (1985), Davis (2006), DiMaggio (1995), Fuller (2002) and Weick (1995), that the construction of scientific knowledge is well understood as a social dynamic represented by a number of interactions of actors in a scientific field. In this process, to study an analytical perspective such as the institutional theory means recognizing that it embraces an ongoing social and theoretical (re)construction. As such, this means, on the one hand, enquiring about the ways in which ideas, concepts and their inherent assumptions become legitimate and last over time; on the other hand, and complementarily, it means understanding the peculiarities of this intellectual program. In other words, it is the investigation of the recursive process between the social and intellectual dimensions (Guarido Filho, 2008).
Thus, the action of researchers producing, interpreting and mobilizing themselves for their ideas are the object of research in light of the conditions of the academic organization and objectified knowledge, which are in turn a medium and outcome of scientific activity. We agree that the knowledge produced through scientific activity (normally taking the form of academic publications as articles) represent a certain world view which, when shared, influences interpretation and, therefore, the understanding of the phenomena under study. This does not preclude implications in the choice of research problems and strategies, analytical categories, validation criteria and other aspects associated with the dynamic of scientific activity.
Concerning the Aims of the Study
Faced with the complexity involved in researching knowledge as a social process, we have opted to adopt a methodology that makes it possible to show, albeit descriptively, certain aspects that we consider relevant to the outcome of this study. In the case of the institutionalization of the institutional theory in organizational studies in Brazil, we understand that, as a state (unlike a process), a certain degree of permanence is presumed in the environment of scientific production, supported by a broad segment of researchers who cooperate in the sense of designing and adopting a theoretical framework that will enable some kind of differentiation in relation to other perspectives available in the field. Thus, we emphasize that the adopted procedures were guided for evidence that could indicate the settlement of the institutional analysis framework in the context of organizational studies. We are conscious that they do not represent all theoretical assumptions that we believe guide a broader line of research regarding the construction of scientific knowledge and that in this study they are only partially represented.
METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES
The research design of this study is of a descriptive nature. On the one hand, it gives preference to the characterization of the academic community and the relationship structure between researchers and, on the other hand, it depicts the prevalence of cited authors in the references used by the scientific articles examined. Therefore, based on documentary research of articles published in Brazilian scientific outlets, we extracted data...
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