Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Change and Continuity: What Can Construction Tell Us About Institutional Theory?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Societies under Construction

Abstract

Early institutional scholarship tended to focus on isomorphic change to examine institutional continuity, that is how certain rules, routines and practices in construction work become legitimised, produced and reproduced. Recent institutional scholars have shifted the focus away from institutional continuity to study institutional change. This shift opened up studies into how competing and complementary institutional logics, along with institutional entrepreneurship and institutional work, can enable new practices to emerge, and how routines and practices are recursively constituted through ongoing dialogue and negotiation. In Chan’s review-based chapter, three critical gaps in institutional scholarship are highlighted with reference to construction research and practice, suggesting that construction offers a unique context for new insights into more processual and inclusive accounts of institutional change and demise.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Argyris, C. (1985). Strategy, change and defensive routines. Boston: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakken, T., & Hernes, T. (2006). Organizing is both a verb and a noun: Weick meets Whitehead. Organization Studies, 27(11), 1599–1616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, M. (1998). Institutions in British property research: A review. Urban Studies, 35(9), 1501–1517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barley, S. R. (2008). Coalface institutionalism. In R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin, & R. Suddaby (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 491–518). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barley, S. R., & Tolbert, P. S. (1997). Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution. Organization Studies, 18(1), 93–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J., Leca, B., & Boxenbaum, E. (2009). How actors change institutions: Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 65–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bechky, B. A. (2006). Gaffers, gofers, and grips: Role-based coordination in temporary organizations. Organization Science, 17(10), 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beech, N. (2011). Liminality and the practices of identity reconstruction. Human Relations, 64(2), 285–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, M., Eisenstat, R. A., & Spector, B. (1990). Why change programs don’t produce change. Harvard Business Review, 68(6), 158–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (2008 [1910]). Time and free will: An essay on the immediate data of consciousness. New York: Cosimo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnholtz, J. P., Cohen, M. D., & Hoch, S. V. (2007). Organizational character: On the regeneration of Camp Poplar Grove. Organization Science, 18(2), 315–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R. J., Sharma, A. K., & Afonso, P. S. (2008). Designing management control in hybrid organizations: The role of path creation and morphogenesis. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 33(7–8), 899–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bresnen, M. J. (1995). All things to all people? Perceptions, attributions, and constructions of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 6(4), 495–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bresnen, M. (2016). Institutional development, divergence and change in the discipline of project management. International Journal of Project Management, 34(2), 328–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bresnen, M. (2017). Being careful what we wish for? Challenges and opportunities afforded through engagement with business and management research. Construction Management and Economics, 35(1–2), 24–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnes, B. (1996). No such thing as… a “one best way” to manage organizational change. Management Decision, 34(10), 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvert, J. (2010). Canada’s asbestos policy: An ongoing threat to building workers’ health in Canada and around the globe. CLR News, Number 4-2010, 7–25. Retrieved from http://www.clr-news.org/CLR/Calvert%20final.pdf.

  • Chan, P. (2012). Review of the book Heathrow’s Terminal 5: History in the making, by Doherty, S. Construction Management and Economics, 30(6), 498–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, P. (2016). Expert knowledge in the making: Using a processual lens to examine expertise in construction. Construction Management and Economics, 34(7–8), 471–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chi, C. S. F., & Javernick-Will, A. N. (2011). Institutional effects on project arrangement: High-speed rail projects in China and Taiwan. Construction Management and Economics, 29(6), 595–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chia, R. (2002). Essai: Time, duration and simultaneity: Rethinking process and change in organizational analysis. Organization Studies, 23(6), 863–868.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska, B. (2009). Emerging institutions: Pyramids or anthills? Organization Studies, 30(4), 423–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska, B., & Joerges, B. (1996). Travel of ideas. In B. Czarniawska & G. Sevón (Eds.), Translating organizational change (pp. 13–48). Berlin: De Gruyter.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Daudigeos, T. (2013). In their profession’s service: How staff professionals exert influence in their organization. Journal of Management Studies, 50(5), 722–749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, P. (1997). In at the deep end: Conducting processual research on organisational change. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13(4), 389–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, P. (2003). Reshaping change: A processual perspective. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Cock, C., & O’Doherty, D. (2017). Ruin and organization studies. Organization Studies, 38(1), 129–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Vaujany, F., & Vaast, E. (2014). If these walls could talk: The mutual construction of organizational space and legitimacy. Organization Science, 25(3), 713–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dittrich, K., Guérard, S., & Seidl, D. (2016). Talking about routines: The role of reflective talk in routine change. Organization Science, 27(3), 678–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Druker, J. (2016). Blacklisting and its legacy in the UK construction industry: Employment relations in the aftermath of exposure of the Consulting Association. Industrial Relations Journal, 47(3), 220–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dulaimi, M. F., Ling, F. Y. Y., & Bajracharya, A. (2003). Organizational motivation and inter-organizational interaction in construction innovation in Singapore. Construction Management and Economics, 21(3), 307–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunphy, D. C., & Stace, D. A. (1988). Transformational and coercive strategies for planned organizational change: Beyond the organization development (O.D.) model. Organization Studies, 9(3), 317–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, N., & Ybema, S. (2010). Marketing identities: Shifting circles of identification in inter-organizational relationships. Organization Studies, 31(3), 279–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (2000). Activity theory as a framework for analysing and redesigning work. Ergonomics, 43(7), 960–974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farjoun, M. (2010). Beyond dualism: Stability and change as a duality. Academy of Management Review, 35(2), 202–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S. (2000). Organizational routines as a source of continuous change. Organization Science, 11(6), 611–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2003). Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(1), 94–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernie, S., Leiringer, R., & Thorpe, T. (2006). Change in construction: A critical perspective. Building Research and Information, 34(2), 91–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster, D. (2016, January 29). Housing blew up the global economy in 2008 and we learned nothing. Guardian. Retrieved from www.guardian.co.uk.

  • Friedland, R., & Alford, R. R. (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices, and institutional contradictions. In W. W. Powell & P. J. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gluch, P. (2009). Unfolding roles and identities of professionals in construction projects: Exploring the informality of practices. Construction Management and Economics, 27(10), 959–968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gluch, P., & Bosch-Sijtsema, P. (2016). Conceptualizing environmental expertise through the lens of institutional work. Construction Management and Economics, 34(7–8), 522–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gluch, P., Gustafsson, M., & Thuvander, L. (2009). An absorptive capacity model for green innovation and performance in the construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 27(5), 451–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb, S. C., & Jensen, J. S. (2016). Governmentalities of construction: From mortar to modular systems and markets. In P. W. Chan & C. J. Neilson (Eds.), Proceedings 32nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 5–7 September, Manchester, UK (pp. 3–12). Association of Researchers in Construction Management.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, S. (2011). Making sense of construction improvement. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institionalism. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1022–1054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., Suddaby, R., & Hinings, C. R. (2002). Theorizing change: The role of professional associations in the transformation of institutionalized fields. Academy of Management Journal, 45(1), 58–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American Sociological Review, 49(2), 149–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, C., & Maguire, S. (2008). Institutional entrepreneurship. In R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin, & R. Suddaby (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 198–217). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Harty, C., & Whyte, J. (2010). Emerging hybrid practices in construction design work: Role of mixed media. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(4), 468–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendry, C. (1996). Understanding and creating whole organizational change through learning theory. Human Relations, 49(5), 621–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henisz, W. J., Holburn, G. L. F., & Zelner, B. A. (2005). Deinstitutionalization and institutional replacement: State-centred and neo-liberal models in the global electricity supply industry (Working Paper).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, A. J., & Henn, R. (2008). Overcoming the social and psychological barriers to green building. Organization and Environment, 21(4), 390–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkin, T., Lu, S.-L., Rogers, P., & Sexton, M. (2016). Detecting defects in the UK new-build housing sector: A learning perspective. Construction Management and Economics, 34(1), 35–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu, G., Negro, G., & Perretti, F. (2012). Hybrids in Hollywood: A study of the production and performance of genre-spanning films. Industrial and Corporate Change, 21(6), 1427–1450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jia, A. Y., Rowlinson, S., Loosemore, M., Xu, M., Li, B., & Gibb, A. (2017). Institutions and institutional logics in construction safety management: The case of climatic heat stress. Construction Management and Economics, 35(6), 338–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C., & Massa, F. G. (2013). From novel practice to consecrated exemplar: Unity temple as a case of institutional evangelizing. Organization Studies, 34(8), 1099–1136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kale, S., & Arditi, D. (2010). Innovation diffusion modelling in the construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(3), 329–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killip, G. (2013). Transition management using a market transformation approach: Lessons for theory, research, and practice from the case of low carbon housing refurbishment in the UK. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31(5), 876–892.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotter, J. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2013). Process studies of change in organization and management: Unveiling temporality, activity, and flow. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., Leca, B., & Zilber, T. B. (2013). Institutional work: Current research, new directions and overlooked issues. Organization Studies, 34(8), 1023–1033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T., Suddaby, R., & Leca, B. (2011). Institutional work: Refocusing institutional studies of organization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(1), 52–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonardi, P. M. (2011). When flexible routines meet flexible technologies: Affordance, constraint, and the imbrication of human and material agencies. MIS Quarterly, 35(1), 147–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Field theory in social science. London: Social Science Paperbacks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lounsbury, M. (2007). A tale of two cities: Competing logics and practice variation in the professionalizing of mutual funds. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2), 289–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lounsbury, M., & Crumley, E. T. (2007). New practice creation: An institutional perspective on innovation. Organization Studies, 28(7), 993–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, S. P., Low, J. Y., & Liu, P. W. (2009). Sustainable facilities: Institutional compliance and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city. Facilities, 27(9/10), 368–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, S., & Hardy, C. (2009). Discourse and deinstitutionalization: The decline of DDT. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 148–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, S., Hardy, C., & Lawrence, T. B. (2004). Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 657–679.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahalingam, A., & Levitt, R. E. (2007). Institutional theory as a framework for analysing conflicts on global projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 133(7), 517–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGuire, D., & Hutchings, K. (2006). A Machiavellian analysis of organisational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 19(2), 192–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, R. E. (2008). New sociology of knowledge: Historical legacy and contributions to current debates in institutional research. In R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin, & R. Suddaby (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 519–538). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miettinen, R., & Virkkunen, J. (2005). Epistemic objects, artefacts and organizational change. Organization, 12(3), 437–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misangyi, V. F., Weaver, G. R., & Elms, H. (2008). Ending corruption: The interplay among institutional logics, resources, and institutional entrepreneurs. Academy of Management Review, 33(3), 750–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mtar, M. (2010). Institution, industry and power effects on integration in cross-border acquisitions. Organization Studies, 31(8), 1099–1127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mutch, A. (2016). The limits of process: On (re)reading Henri Bergson. Organization, 23(6), 825–839.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muzio, D., Brock, D. M., & Suddaby, R. (2013). Professions and institutional change: Towards an institutionalist sociology of the professions. Journal of Management Studies, 50(5), 699–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ness, K., & Green, S. (2013). Human resource management in the construction context: Disappearing workers in the UK. In A. Dainty & M. Loosemore (Eds.), Human resource management in construction: Critical perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 18–50). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolini, D., Delmestri, G., Goodrick, E., Reay, T., Lindberg, K., & Adolfsson, P. (2016). Look what’s back! institutional complexity, reversibility and the knotting of logics. British Journal of Management, 27(2), 228–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. (1997). The influence of institutional and task environment relationships on organizational performance: The Canadian construction industry. Journal of Management Studies, 34(1), 99–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira, S., Marco, E., Gething, B., & Organ, S. (2017). Evolutionary, not revolutionary: Logics of early design energy modelling adoption in UK architecture practice. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 13(3), 168–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlikowski, W. J. (1996). Improvising organizational transformation over time: A situated change perspective. Information Systems Research, 7(1), 63–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlikowski, W. J., & Hofman, D. J. (1997). An improvisational model for change management: The case of groupware technologies. Sloan Management Review, 38, 11–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pentland, B. T., Hærem, T., & Hillison, D. (2011). The (n)ever-changing world: Stability and change in organizational routines. Organization Science, 22(6), 1369–1383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pettigrew, A. M., Woodman, R. W., & Cameron, K. S. (2001). Studying organizational change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 697–713.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organisation. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phua, F. T. T. (2006). When is construction partnering likely to happen? An empirical examination of the role of institutional norms. Construction Management and Economics, 24(6), 615–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rao, H., Monin, P., & Durand, R. (2003). Institutional change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle cuisine as an identity movement in French Gastronomy. American Journal of Sociology, 108(4), 795–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, W., Chan, P. W., & Lau, T. (2016a). Sensors and sensibility: Examining the role of technological features in servitizing construction towards greater sustainability. Construction Management and Economics, 34(1), 4–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, W., Chan, P., & Lau, T. (2016b). Finding new ways of creating value: A case study of servitization in construction. Research-Technology Management, 59(3), 37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schweber, L., & Harty, C. (2010). Actors and objects: A socio-technical networks approach to technology uptake in the construction sector. Construction Management and Economics, 28(6), 657–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (2001). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo, M., & Creed, D. W. E. (2002). Institutional contradictions, praxis, and institutional change: A dialectical perspective. Academy of Management Review, 27(2), 222–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sminia, H. (2011). Institutional continuity and the Dutch construction industry fiddle. Organization Studies, 32(11), 1559–1585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, L. (1987). Plans and situated actions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Surachaikulwattana, P., & Phillips, N. (2017). Institutions as process. In A. Langley & H. Tsoukas (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of process organization studies (pp. 372–386). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szentes, H. (2016). Organizational tensions when managing interorganizational projects (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Luleå University of Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szentes, H., & Eriksson, P. (2016). Paradoxical organizational tensions between control and flexibility when managing large infrastructure projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(4).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H., & Ocasio, W. (2008). Institutional logics. In R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin, & R. Suddaby (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 99–129). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H., Jones, C., & Kury, K. (2005). Institutional logics and institutional change in organizations: Transformation in accounting, architecture, and publishing. In C. Jones & P. Thornton (Eds.), Transformation in cultural industries: Research in the sociology of organizations (Vol. 23, pp. 125–170). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tichy, N. M. (1983). Managing strategic change. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsoukas, H., & Chia, R. (2002). On organizational becoming: Rethinking organizational change. Organization Science, 13(5), 567–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaara, E., & Monin, P. (2010). A recursive perspective on discursive legitimation and organizational action in mergers and acquisitions. Organization Science, 21(1), 3–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (2005). Alternative approaches for studying organizational change. Organization Studies, 26(9), 1377–1404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, W. E., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 361–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, R. (2017). Strategy as practice, process and institution: Turning towards activity. In A. Langley & H. Tsoukas (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of process organization studies (pp. 387–401). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zairi, M., Letza, S., & Oakland, J. (1994). Does TQM impact on bottom line results? TQM Magazine, 6(1), 38–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Paul Chan

Authors
  1. Paul Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Chan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom

    Daniel J. Sage

  2. School of Business, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Chloé Vitry

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Chan, P. (2018). Change and Continuity: What Can Construction Tell Us About Institutional Theory?. In: Sage, D., Vitry, C. (eds) Societies under Construction. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73996-0_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73996-0_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73995-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73996-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation