Introduction: Institutions and Organizations

Institutions—the taken-for-granted structures, practices, and meanings that define what people and organizations within their jurisdiction think, do, and aspire to—are all about process, even though this may not always have been evident in some of the institutional theory literature. In this introduction, the editors call for a strong process approach to institutional dynamics, one that highlights institutions as emergent, generative, political, and social. They first relate “weak” and “strong” process views with the two metaphors commonly used to explain institutionalization—diffusion and translation. After reviewing some of the recent developments within institutional theory that set the ground for a strong process view, they move to exemplify the potential of a strong process view for institutional theory. They then end the introduction with some suggestions that will contribute positively to the ongoing development of institutional theory through a strong process view.