A Study of the Form of Organizations: Toward an Integrative Framework of Population Ecology and Institutionalism

摘要

Does the form of organizations tend to show diversity or homogeneity? This paper begins with two contrasting questions: ‘Why are there many organizational forms?’ and ‘Why are organizations similar?’ Population ecology and institutional theory represent different lenses through which theorists use for interpreting these organizational phenomena. Each paradigm offers compelling concepts and arguments for supporting their own perspectives even though they seem to lead to contradictory results. This conceptual paper is an attempt to clarify the fundamental divergence of ecological and institutional approaches and proposes an integrated perspective for future empirical studies.