Surfing on institutions: When temporary actors in organizational fields respond to institutional pressures

Amélie Boutinot (1, 2) , Vincent Mangematin (2)

1 Institut Supérieur de Gestion
2 MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique

Institutional scholars focus on practices and behaviors of actors permanently belonging to an organizational field - but what about organizations that are new and only temporary in such a field? How do they react to the field‟s institutional constraints? Based on an in-depth analysis of the architectural contest for QuikSilverRossignol‟s new European headquarters, this paper introduces the idea that such actors, who connect to a field only temporarily, may not conform to or change such institutional pressure, but may rather "surf‟ on institutions, adopting but adapting their rules in ways that do not lead to bricolage, institutional change or translation. Introducing the notion of "surfing on institution‟ allows us to complement the literature on organizations‟ responses to institutional pressures and norms.

Mots clés: Architecture; Organizational field; Temporariness; Institution

Domaines: Gestion et management; Economies et finances

Amélie Boutinot, Vincent Mangematin. Surfing on institutions: When temporary actors in organizational fields respond to institutional pressures. European Management Journal, 2013, 31 (6), pp.626-641. ⟨10.1016/j.emj.2013.03.001⟩. ⟨hal-00665213⟩