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Organizational research on market transition: A sociological approach

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Abstract

The proliferation of transition economies provides a unique opportunity to study the formation and behavior of social and economic structures, and literature exploring these issues has grown dramatically in recent years. Sociologists have made important contributions to the study of transition, particularly to theories of organizations and organizational change in China. In this article, I provide a critical assessment of the state of sociological literature on the transition process. I take stock of research that studies the emergence of new organizational forms, the growth of entrepreneurship, and the development of markets in China. I conclude with suggestions for resolving central debates and otherwise extending the literature.

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Notes

  1. There are many excellent descriptions of the process by which transition began in various countries. I will not review those studies here (Guthrie, 1999; Naughton, 1996; Nee & Stark, 1989; Tsui et al., 2006; Walder, 1996a).

  2. Research on transition has been by far most abundant—and most intensely contested—in the literature on the consequences of transition for social stratification and mobility (Nee, 1989b, 1996; Walder, 1996b, 2002). Indeed, the term “market transition debate” within the sociology literature is now synonymous with the debate about how market transition alters the nature of stratification and inequality in a country. That debate has been reviewed elsewhere (Keister, 2008b; Keister & Zhang, 2008) and is beyond the scope of this article.

  3. The version of new institutionalism that Nee develops is distinct from new institutionalism in the sociological study of organizations (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991; Meyer & Rowan, 1977).

  4. The term “politicized capitalism” is relatively new (Nee, 2005b; Nee & Opper, 2007a), but it describes ideas that Nee and colleagues have been developing for years.

  5. Some estimates of the extent to which entrepreneurship has grown might be overestimated because of differences in definitions of entrepreneurship (Róna-Tas & Sagi, 2005).

  6. Boundary blurring is closely related to Stark’s notion of recombinant property (Stark, 1996), although boundary blurring can also refer to blurring of boundaries between legal and illegal markets.

  7. There is other literature on organizations that incorporates discussion of diffusion, but it is not part of the debate between new institutionalists and corporatists. I address this literature in the next sections.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Duke University, 268 Soc/Psych Building, Durham, NC, 27708-0088, USA

    Lisa A. Keister

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Thanks to Nan Lin and Edward Tiryakian for helpful comments. I also gratefully acknowledge comments from participants at the American Sociology Association session on Chinese capitalism and participants at the Russell Sage Foundation conference on Rational Choice Sociology.

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Keister, L.A. Organizational research on market transition: A sociological approach. Asia Pac J Manag 26, 719–742 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-008-9113-4

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