Resumo

Institutionalist studies have taken for granted the presence of cultural elements, such as values, beliefs, assumptions, symbols, meaning, and others in their analyses. They are not clearly distinguished in terms of their influence and their combined participation in logics definition or modification has not been properly analysed. It is also not clear how the cultural elements present in the logics work together with the material elements of these logics.

In this study, we have examined five papers’ empirical accounts to identify which cultural elements could be identified in them, to respond about their combined participation in logics definition or modification, and also to examine how cultural elements relate with material aspects of logics.

Friedland and Alford (1991) say that human and organizational activity are guided by patterns involving symbolic systems, which categorize activity, make sense of it, provide ways of organizing reality and, thus, give meaning to time and space. Thornton and Ocasio (2008) present the concept that each institutional order consists of both material and cultural characteristics including presuppositions, values and beliefs. Other authors also understand that practices and structures count with the orientation of cultural elements.

The connection between cultural elements and material aspects of logics seems evident in that practices and structures that help visualize social reality are explained through cultural elements such as values and others. It is more difficult to distinguish between the different cultural elements and to assess their relative participation when cultural elements play together roles in a logic.

Hence, this research suggests that more attention needs to be paid to linking cultural and material elements to the social construction of reality; specifically, we suggest empirical research that works with the three levels—institutions, fields and individuals—and the mechanisms responsible for linking cognition to practices and material constructions.

Friedland, R., & Alford, R. R. (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices and institutional contradictions. In W. W. Powell and P. J. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Thornton, P. H., & Ocasio, W. (2008). Institutional logics. The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, 840, 99-128.