Agency and Institutions: A Review of Institutional Entrepreneurship

Executive Summary:

Researchers' understanding of institutional entrepreneurship has evolved since the publication of Paul DiMaggio's seminal text "Interest and Agency in Institutional Theory" 20 years ago. In particular, researchers have begun to establish foundations for a theory of institutional entrepreneurship. They have also taken initial steps to capture the process of institutional entrepreneurship. This paper analyzes existing work, and proposes an ambitious research agenda that calls for a more systematic investigation of institutional entrepreneurship. Key concepts include:

• Many directions for future work remain open. In particular, more comparative studies, studies in mature or stable fields, studies of failing or failed institutional entrepreneurs, and studies accounting for the individual as well as the organizational and organizational field levels of analysis are needed.
• Further insight into institutional entrepreneurship could help to articulate a more complex and extended view of the new institutionalism, which views actors as both embedded in institutional arrangements and developing creative activities.
• The intersection between agency and structure remains one of the major challenges to contemporary research in institutional theory.