Ph.D.

Course Spring 2016

Institutional Theory and Social Construction

Professor Teresa Nelson, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor, University of Lige
Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Contact: drteresanelson@gmail.com
MON-TUES, APR 18 and 19; THURS, APR 21; TUES May 17, 2016 HEC Liege (room tbd)
5 ECTS
Registration before 1st March, please send e-mail to Christine Dykmans (c.dykmans@ulg.ac.be).

COURSE OVERVIEW
In this course we will survey theoretical and empirical approaches in Institutional Theory, to include an
extension to Social Construction as a perspective to consider and perform academic research. Through
this lens we look at very practical questions: why do organizations work as they do? How does change
occur? Why is change so difficult?
Institutional Theory is a branch of Organization Theory (OT), a confederation of ideas that structure our
capacity as scholars to understand how organizations form, operate, survive, decline and grow.
Institutional Theory, emerging in the 1970s, remains one of the most robust idea sets in OT as it focuses
on deep social structures and their influence. It is a theory of legitmacy and the taken-for-granted and
simultaneously then, a theory seeking to explain disruption and change. The perspective of Social
Construction informs Institutional Theory as it considers how social norms emerge from the collective
society; how they are enforced and enacted.
Our goal in studying this body of work is to build your capacity to see patterns of organizing, to analyze
complicated organizational situations, and to develop and assemble effective means to study them. In
addition to surveying major classical and modern works employing Institutional Theory, the course will
prioritize building students individual capacity to form an argument using Institutional Theory on a
subject of their own choosing. We will discuss these projects as a group. One-on-one meetings with the
professor will also be available, as requested.

CONTENTS
Throughout the course we will integrate active, group and one-on-one discussion of your research work
to look for ways Institutional Theory is relevant and could be applied. Please select one project or idea
of interest to you that you bring to the first class (perhaps your dissertation, but not necessarily). The
final day of the class, in line with the major assignment of the course, we will discuss student research
projects and the development of propositions and hypotheses applying ideas of Institutional Theory and
Social Construction.

We will begin the course with an overview of Organization Theory to place Institutional Theory within
context, referencing population ecology, resource dependency theory and other major streams of
research from the 1960s onward. We will then explore together major ideas of New Institutional
Theory which arose in the 1970s drawing on characteristic earlier writings and theoretical
perspectives. In additional to published journal articles, we will read and discuss Berger and Luckmans
classic, The Social Construction of Reality (1967), as a conceptual basis on which Institutional Theory
relies.
Next, we will examine modern applications of Institutional Theory, conceptual and empirical, that have
been published in top English language journals in the last few years. The goal is to see how Institutional
Theory offers solutions for understanding and framing complex organizational issues such as resource
acquisition and growth, and how it links individual behavior to organizations and society as a whole. We
will look at how Institutional Theory has been combined with other theories of late to produce more
complex research designs as well as the array of methods that allow for testing.
DETAILS
Readings:
All readings will be in English and will draw from the leading organizational journals published in that
language. Students will be expected to analyze work and present it by writing briefs, provide a critical
review, and lead and contribute to discussions in class. The final project will be a first draft argument for
a research paper using Institutional Theory and Social Construction ideas around a topic of the
students interest.
Materials Available:
The final syllabus, readings of the course, and student assignments, will be available via lola by March
15, 2016. All required readings will be posted there EXCEPT the one book which students should
purchase independently:
The Social Construction of Reality, Berger and Luckman, (1967). Anchor Books, ISBN: 0385058985.

EXPECTATIONS AND DELIVERABLES
Attend class and participate actively in discussion. Bring your questions and interests.
Determine one research project or topic you are working on for the group to consider and bring
it to describe the first day.
Prepare course readings and be ready to lead discussion on assigned research articles. Prepare
one page description sheets in English on KEY readings as assigned.
Be ready to lead course discussion on individual papers assigned.
Prepare a final research proposal implementing ideas of Institutional Theory in regard to your
research question of interest.

Written assignments should be submitted via email (drteresanelson@gmail.com) by June 1, 2016. Note:
Students in prior classes have used this opportunity to develop a work for publication, to submit to
attend a doctoral consortium, and/or to advance their thesis.