| Abstract |
""The human condition teems with institutions." From this premise, Theories of Institutions surveys several decades of institutional theory / institutionalism from across the social sciences, emphasizing the interplay of institutions with concepts of temporality, sociality, efficiency and power. Concepts such as duration, tempo, sequencing and timing, as applied via widely-used (and sometimes misused) mechanisms such as critical junctures and path dependence, shed new light on institutional temporality. Scripts and skills bound a rich continuum of institutional sociality, itself a central focus of burgeoning work in management and organizational studies, beyond longstanding centrality in social science departments. Institutions have come to play a central role in explanations of economic (in)efficiency, as concepts of transaction costs, bounded rationality and strategic interaction enriched earlier models of neoclassical economics across the 20th century. Finally, the book provides extensive original treatment of power in institutional theory, elevating it to a matter of central concern"-- Provided by publisher. |
