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Dialogue and distributed agency in institutional transmission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Andrea Whittle ,
Olga Suhomlinova  and
Frank Mueller
Andrea Whittle
Affiliation:
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Olga Suhomlinova
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Frank Mueller
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland
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Abstract

In this paper we contribute to the body of work on agency and institutional transmission by proposing two new concepts: distributed agency and dialogue. Distributed agency is a companion concept to that of ‘institutional entrepreneurship’. Whilst institutional entrepreneurship emphasizes the deliberate institution-building by a select few, distributed agency highlights the emergent institution-building that involves any and every organizational member. In turn, dialogue supplements the models of institutional diffusion by drawing attention to the situated interactions between the ‘champions’ and the ‘recipients’ of institutional innovations, to the frictions that accompany institutional transmission, and to the deviations that emerge from those interactions. We use these concepts to analyze the micro-discursive processes during a crucial event in the institutionalization of a new organizational template in a UK public–private partnership. We found that the implementation hinged upon enabling the audience (i.e. the employees expected to apply the template in their work) to act as agents (hence, distributed agency) by engaging in a dialogue that sought to define the audience's identity vis-à-vis coercive pressures, articulate and address its interests, and recognize its rights to modify the template to suit the local circumstances.

Keywords

dialoguediscoursedistributed agencyinstitutional theoryinstitutional enterpreneurship
Type
Stability & Change
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , July 2011 , pp. 548 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2011

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