Institutional change and social risk: A study of campaigns by social movement organizations against firms.

摘要

Firms are increasingly coming under attack from advocacy organizations (e.g., Greenpeace, Oxfam) over a wide range of issues. The advocacy organizations that carry out these campaigns are institutionally proactive in that they either hold firms accountable to existing institutional norms, or they pursue institutional change through their campaigns against firms. These campaigns can severely threaten profitable firms and constrain their scope for strategic action. The dissertation is a study of these campaigns. The goals are to better understand (1) the "social risk" of firms---as realized in these campaigns, and (2) the processes through which social movement organizations successfully change institutions.; The first and second chapters of the dissertation map out the inter-organizational processes of campaigns, focusing particularly on the organizational, institutional, and broader environmental antecedents of campaigns. This research describes the unique antecedents, players, processes, and outcomes associated with social risk, and provides insights into managing this unique risk.; The third and fourth chapters develop, test, and confirm, through a large-scale survey, hypotheses concerning how institutionally radical social movement organizations leverage the relative institutional homogeneity of their resource providers to effect institutional change. This research provides a mechanism for explaining how institutional diversity is translated into institutional change.; The fifth chapter further develops the key notion of proxy wars, distinguishes conversion from domination means of institutional change, and suggests avenues for future research.; The sixth chapter focuses on managerial implications, particularly what makes advocacy organizations so effective, the key firm-specific risk factors, and how best to avoid and manage advocacy organization campaigns.