Search results for "institutional"
showing 10 items of 516 documents
Navigating multiple logics: Legitimacy and the quest for societal impact in science
2022
Academic scientists are encouraged to pursue research that delivers both scientific and societal impact. This may involve a search for alternative mechanisms of social approval which lead to endorsement of scientists’ research goals. We explore how scientists mobilise and accumulate different forms of legitimacy, which might favour their participation in practices related to innovation and societal impact. We propose three specific sources of scientific legitimacy: i) scientists’ social networks (research-related legitimacy ties), ii) prominence in the relevant academic community (reputation-based legitimacy); and direct contact with the primary beneficiaries of the research (beneficiary-ba…
Zwischen Kultur und Kalkül? Vertrauen und Sozialkapital im Kontext der neoinstitutionalistischen Wende
2004
Trust and social capital work in social networks as informal institutions, favouring cooperation between the participants of such social interaction. However, the increasing use of both terms has been accompanied by vanishing conceptual and theoretical precision. In order to counterbalance this development this article tries to clarify some of the major puzzles connected with both terms. First, we embed trust and social capital within the institutionalist turn in political science. Second however, we demonstrate that trust and social capital have been modelled from at least two perspectives: sociological institutionalism and economic institutionalism. Furthermore, attempts of combining thos…
An Institutional Perspective on Religious Freedom and Economic Growth
2017
AbstractThe increase in religion-related conflicts around the world emphasizes the urgent need for a better understanding of the role of religion and religious freedom on socio-economic development, both theoretically and empirically. While studies on the role of religion on economic development have existed as early as Weber (1905), there is a dearth of studies on the effect of religious freedom on economic growth, and the existing studies overlook possible negative impacts on economies by unrestricted religious freedom. Drawing on institutional theory, we propose that different types of religious restrictions can exert either positive or negative effects on economic growth. We test our pr…
Empowered by stigma? Pioneer organic farmers' stigma management strategies
2019
Abstract Pioneers of organic farming often faced social challenges as their innovative ideas on agriculture not only encountered opposition in the conventional farming community, but led to stigmatization of organic farmers as social deviants. In this study, we examine what kind of stigma management strategies pioneer organic farmers engage with in order to cultivate an alternative positive image of themselves. Our research is based on the interviews with 14 pioneer organic farmers. Based on a qualitative analysis of the interviews, we provide a model of those strategies that the creation from a stigmatized to valued identity requires. Our study increases the understanding of the institutio…
Reconciling credibility and accountability: how expert bodies achieve credibility through accountability processes
2018
Arguments about the legitimate role of expert bodies in Europe often centre on the following question: Does their independence help to make policies credible or should they be made democratically accountable to principals and stakeholders? This article claims this is a false dichotomy. It does so by arguing theoretically that credibility can be achieved through accountability processes. Then, drawing on exemplary case studies, this article identifies distinctive accountability processes for ensuring credibility: revisable competencies, deliberation over institutional design, and engagement in public justification. Credibility and accountability are thus not conflicting, but co-constitutive …
The assemblage of culture-led policies in small towns and rural communities
2019
Abstract The mobile global discourse on culture’s prominent role in driving development policies is increasingly influencing small cities and rural communities. Global networks of information and ideas flow through space and become reconstructed as place-based and territorial narratives or policy assemblages; meanwhile, communities are increasingly producing local policies within these networks. The policy mobility literature has been occupied with perspectives on how to follow policies; it has only to a limited degree addressed empirical questions about how such policies are constructed from a situated perspective. Therefore, an analytical approach is needed to analyze the empirical constr…
The Five-star Movement inside the institutions in Sicily: from ‘swimming the Strait’ to institutionalisation in local politics
2019
This article considers the institutionalisation of the Five-star Movement (M5s) in regional and local councils. It discusses the process of the Movement’s institutionalisation, analysing the development of its internal organisation; its local platforms and political performance; its institutional repertoire of action, and the several internal and external conflicts between its own rules and the ‘others’. In particular, the article investigates the changes affecting the M5s after its engagement with the Sicilian regional assembly and Sicilian municipal councils, and the ways in which the specific institutionalisation process it underwent was influenced by the complexities of the political an…
The micro-politics of parliamentary powers : European parliament strategies for expanding its influence in the EU institutional system
2018
The European Parliament (EP) has gained considerable new powers since it was first established in 1952. Why has this happened, and how should the powers the EP possesses be assessed? This article suggests a novel approach that focuses on inter-institutional micropolitics and the processes in which the EP obtained its powers rather than treaty changes at IGCs. Interinstitutional micropolitics are carried out by institutions and their members who act politically and shape the EU’s system from within. The EP’s successes in interinstitutional micropolitics are shaped by (1) its existing powers that need to be assessed in their differentiation; (2) the interparliamentary setting and the power co…
Opportunities and challenges of digitized discretionary practices: a public service worker perspective
2018
Abstract Public service workers exercise discretionary power during policy implementation. Due to an immense diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT) in public service provision, they are increasingly exposed to reforms aiming at more efficient and fair decision-making. Whereas extant literature has found that ICT can both enable and constrain public service workers' ability to exercise discretion, we know less about underlying explanations for these inconclusive findings. This paper addresses this research gap by exploring how and why public service workers react to digitized discretionary practices. We draw upon institutional logics to show the underlying consideration…
Introduction to the English Edition: Birth and Development of an Institutionalist Theory of Money
2020
For a long time, books were the medium of diffusion favoured by researchers seeking to expound their approaches and their findings. The book format enabled authors to unfold their ideas gradually, to debate the arguments advanced by their contemporaries and to situate themselves precisely relative to their predecessors.