Post-Institutional Organizations: How Emerging Business Models Challenge Fundamental Institutional Assumptions

While Abrutyn et al. (2025) called for rethinking institutional concepts, and Zhao & Ge (2023) showed how institutional mechanisms generate differentiation, we need to understand organizations that fundamentally reject institutional assumptions. This study would examine "post-institutional" organizations that deliberately design alternative governance structures, ownership models, and stakeholder relationships that don't fit existing institutional categories. Drawing on Saka-Helmhout et al.'s (2015) work on MNEs challenging institutional theory, I'd investigate how these organizations create legitimacy without conforming to traditional institutional norms. This research challenges institutional theory's core assumption that organizations must seek legitimacy through institutional conformity, instead exploring how organizations might thrive through deliberate institutional innovation and rejection.

References:

1. Institutional Spheres and Organizational Sociology: Considering the Ecological and Cultural Dynamics of the Macro Realm. Seth Abrutyn, Colter J. Uscola, Kate Feldstein (2025). Journal of Organizational Sociology.
2. Different while being similar: The dual institutional process and differential organizational status.. Wei Zhao, Jianhua Ge (2023). British Journal of Sociology.
3. The MNE as a Challenge to Institutional Theory: Key Concepts, Recent Developments and Empirical Evidence. A. Saka‐Helmhout, Richard Deeg, R. Greenwood (2015).