Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T01:22:42.045Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Organizational Learning Under Institutional Complexity: Evidence from Township Clusters in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2021

Shuyang You ,
Abby Jingzi Zhou Open the ORCID record for Abby Jingzi Zhou [Opens in a new window] ,
Steven Shijin Zhou Open the ORCID record for Steven Shijin Zhou [Opens in a new window] ,
Liangding Jia Open the ORCID record for Liangding Jia [Opens in a new window]  and
Chengqi Wang
Shuyang You
Affiliation:
Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, China
Abby Jingzi Zhou
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
Steven Shijin Zhou*
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
Liangding Jia
Affiliation:
Nanjing University, China
Chengqi Wang
Affiliation:
Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK
*
Corresponding author: Steven Shijin Zhou ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing from conceptualizations of organizational learning and institutional complexity, we advance the understanding of how the coexistence of multiple institutional logics in a community influences firms’ learning. Viewing communities where firms and local governments coexist as clusters, our analysis of 354 firms in 39 township clusters in China shows that government logic negatively moderates the positive effect of community logic on organizational learning; however, social connections between the community and local governments mitigate this negative effect. Modeling the relationship between the two logics in this manner extends prior conceptualizations of interfirm learning as a process of isomorphic diffusion of social norms and advances understanding of the role of institutions in organizational learning. This study also offers new insights for theoretical conversations on the compatibility and incompatibility of multiple institutional logics by demonstrating when logic multiplicity leads to conflicts and when it maintains harmony.

摘要

基于组织学习理论和制度复杂性观点，我们对多制度逻辑下的组织社群如何影响企业学习行为进行了研究。我们将企业和地方政府共存的集群视为一类典型的组织社群，并对中国39个乡镇集群中的354家企业开展实证研究。结果表明，政府逻辑会弱化社群逻辑对组织学习的促进作用，而企业与地方政府间的连通性可以缓解该消极影响。从制度复杂性角度解释组织学习现象，拓展了有关组织社群中学习是基于社会规范同质化过程的观点，也使我们进一步理解制度环境在影响组织学习中的作用机理。同时，通过揭示多制度逻辑共存时表现出冲突还是和谐状态的边界条件，我们也对制度逻辑间的兼容性议题做出贡献。

Аннотация

На основании концептуальных представлений об организационном обучении и институциональной сложности, мы способствуем пониманию того, каким образом сосуществование множественных институциональных логических систем в сообществе влияет на организационное обучение в компаниях. При рассмотрении сообществ, в которых компании и местные органы власти сосуществуют в рамках кластера, наш анализ 354 компаний в 39 кластерах на уровне поселков в Китае показывает, что логика правительства противодействует положительному влиянию логики сообщества на организационное обучение; однако, социальные связи между сообществом и местными органами власти смягчают этот негативный эффект. Моделирование взаимодействия между двумя логическими системами расширяет прошлые представления о межорганизационном обучении как о процессе изоморфного распространения социальных норм и способствует пониманию роли институтов в организационном обучении. Это исследование также предлагает новые идеи для теоретических дискуссий о совместимости и несовместимости множественных институциональных логических систем, так как показывает, когда множественность логических систем приводит к конфликтам, а когда поддерживает гармонию.

Resumen

Basándonos en las conceptualizaciones de aprendizaje organizacional y la complejidad institucional, mejoramos la comprensión de cómo la co-existencia de lógicas institucionales múltiples en comunidades influencia el aprendizaje de las empresas. Observando comunidades donde las empresas y los gobiernos locales co-existen como clústeres, nuestro análisis de 354 empresas en 39 municipios en China muestra que la lógica del gobierno modera negativamente el efecto positivo de la lógica comunitaria sobre el aprendizaje organizacional; sin embargo, las conexiones entre la comunidad y los gobiernos locales mitigan este efecto negativo. Al modelar la relación entre las dos lógicas amplía las conceptualizaciones anteriores de aprendizaje entre las empresas como un proceso de difusión isomorfo de normas sociales y mejora la comprensión del papel de las instituciones en el aprendizaje organizacional. Este estudio también ofrece nuevos aportes para las conversaciones teóricas sobre la compatibilidad e incompatibilidad de múltiples lógicas institucionales al demostrar cuándo la multiplicidad de lógicas lleva a conflictos y cuando mantiene la armonía.

Keywords

community logicgovernment logicinstitutional complexityorganizational learningtownship cluster组织学习制度复杂性社群逻辑政府逻辑乡镇集群логика сообществалогика органов властиинституциональная сложностьорганизационное обучениекластер на уровне поселкаlógica comunitarialógica gubernamentalcomplejidad institucionalaprendizaje organizacionalclúster municipal
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 17 , Special Issue 4: Remembering James G. March , October 2021 , pp. 726 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The International Association for Chinese Management Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

ACCEPTED BY Guest Editor Bilian Sullivan

References

REFERENCES

Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R. K., & Culpepper, S. A. 2013. Best-practice recommendations for estimating cross-level interaction effects using multilevel modeling. Journal of Management, 39(6): 1490–1528.10.1177/0149206313478188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahuja, G., & Katila, R. 2001. Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of the acquiring firms: A longitudinal study. Strategic Management Journal, 22(3): 197–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almandoz, J. 2012. Arriving at the starting line: The impact of community and financial logics on new banking ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6): 1381–1406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almandoz, J. 2014. Founding teams as carriers of competing logics: When institutional forces predict banks’ risk exposure. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(3): 442–473.10.1177/0001839214537810CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arikan, A. T. 2009. Interfirm knowledge exchanges and the knowledge creation capability of clusters. Academy of Management Review, 34(4): 658–676.Google Scholar
Arikan, A. T., & Schilling, M. A. 2011. Structure and governance in industrial districts: Implications for competitive advantage. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4): 772–803.10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00951.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbieri, E., Di Tommaso, M. R., & Bonnini, S. 2012. Industrial development policies and performances in Southern China: Beyond the specialised industrial cluster program. China Economic Review, 23(3): 613–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, S. J., Tracey, B., & Heide, J. B. 2009. The organization of regional clusters. Academy of Management Review, 34(4): 623–642.Google Scholar
Besharov, M. L., & Smith, W. K. 2014. Multiple institutional logics in organizations: Explaining their varied nature and implications. Academy of Management Review, 39(3): 364–381.10.5465/amr.2011.0431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brahm, F., & Tarziján, J. 2014. Transactional hazards, institutional change, and capabilities: Integrating the theories of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 35(2): 224–245.10.1002/smj.2094CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, D., Dai, L., & Li, D. H. 2019. A delicate balance for innovation: Competition and collaboration in R&D Consortia. Management and Organization Review, 15(1): 145–176.10.1017/mor.2018.49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2): 147–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, M. B., & Jones, C. 2010. Institutional logics and institutional pluralism: The contestation of care and science logics in medical education, 1967–2005. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55(1): 114–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedland, R., & Alford, R. R. 1991. Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices, and institutional contradictions. In Powell, W. W. & DiMaggio, P. J. (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis: 232–266.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Greenwood, R., Raynard, M., Kodeih, F., Micelotta, E. R., & Lounsbury, M. 2011. Institutional complexity and organizational responses. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1): 317–371.10.5465/19416520.2011.590299CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitt, M. A., Bierman, L., Uhlenbruck, K., & Shimizu, K. 2006. The importance of resources in the internationalization of professional service firms: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Academy of Management Journal, 49(6): 1137–1157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmann, D. A., Griffin, M. A., & Gavin, M. B. 2000. The application of hierarchical linear modeling to organizational research. In Klein, K., & Kozlowski, S. W. (Eds.), Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations: 467–511. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hua, X., Chen, Y., & Prashantham, S. 2016. Institutional logic dynamics: Private firm financing in Ningbo (1912–2008). Business History, 58(3): 378–407.10.1080/00076791.2015.1122707CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inkpen, A. C., & Tsang, E. W. 2005. Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer. Academy of Management Review, 30(1): 146–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jandhyala, S., & Phene, A. 2015. The role of intergovernmental organizations in cross-border knowledge transfer and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(4): 712–743.10.1177/0001839215590153CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jay, J. 2012. Navigating paradox as a mechanism of change and innovation in hybrid organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1): 137–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jia, L. D., Li, S. L., Tallman, S., & Zheng, Y. Q. 2017. Catch-up via agglomeration: A study of township clusters. Global Strategy Journal, 7(2): 193–211.10.1002/gsj.1154CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, K. J., & Kozlowski, S. W. 2000. Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions, and new directions. New York: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Krug, B., & Hendrischke, H. 2008. Framing China: Transformation and institutional change through co-evolution. Management and Organization Review, 4(1): 81–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landis, R. S., & Dunlap, W. P. 2000. Moderated multiple regression tests are criterion specific. Organizational Research Methods, 3(3): 254–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, P. J., Salk, J. E., & Lyles, M. A. 2001. Absorptive capacity, learning, and performance in international joint ventures. Strategic Management Journal, 22(12): 1139–1161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laursen, K., Masciarelli, F., & Prencipe, A. 2012. Regions matter: How localized social capital affects innovation and external knowledge acquisition. Organization Science, 23(1): 177–193.10.1287/orsc.1110.0650CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, C., & Lorenz, E. 1999. Collective learning, tacit knowledge and regional innovative capacity. Regional Studies, 33(4): 305–317.10.1080/713693555CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, M. D. P., & Lounsbury, M. 2015. Filtering institutional logics: Community logic variation and differential responses to the institutional complexity of toxic waste. Organization Science, 26(3): 847–866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinthal, D. A., & March, J. G. 1993. The myopia of learning. Strategic Management Journal, 14(S2): 95–112.10.1002/smj.4250141009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitt, B., & March, J. G. 1988. Organizational learning. Annual Review of Sociology, 14(1): 319–338.10.1146/annurev.so.14.080188.001535CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H., & Atuahene-Gima, K. 2001. Product innovation strategy and the performance of new technology ventures in China. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6): 1123–1134.Google Scholar
Liu, H. J., Yang, J. H., & Augustine, D. 2018. Political ties and firm performance: The effects of proself and prosocial engagement and institutional development. Global Strategy Journal, 8(3): 471–502.10.1002/gsj.1194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Zhang, C., & Jing, R. 2016. Coping with multiple institutional logics: Temporal process of institutional work during the emergence of the one foundation in China. Management and Organization Review, 12(2): 387–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, J. G. 2005. Parochialism in the evolution of a research community: The case of organization studies. Management and Organization Review, 1(1): 5–22.10.1111/j.1740-8784.2004.00002.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. 1976. Ambiguity and choice in organizations. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. 1983. The new institutionalism: Organizational factors in political life. American Political Science Review, 78(3): 734–749.10.2307/1961840CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marquis, C., & Lounsbury, M. 2007. Vive la resistance: Consolidation and the institutional contingency of professional counter-mobilization in U.S. banking. Academy of Management Journal, 50(4): 799–820.10.5465/amj.2007.26279172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marquis, C., Glynn, M. A., & Davis, G. F. 2007. Community isomorphism and corporate social action. Academy of Management Review, 32(3): 925–945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marquis, C., Lounsbury, M., & Greenwood, R. 2011. Communities and organizations. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.10.1108/S0733-558X(2011)33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, B. T., & Folta, T. B. 2008. Location matters: Where we have been and where we might go in agglomeration research. Journal of Management, 34(3): 532–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McPherson, C. M., & Sauder, M. 2013. Logics in action: Managing institutional complexity in a drug court. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(2): 165–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nee, V., & Opper, S. 2012. Capitalism from below: Markets and institutional change in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishii, L. H., & Mayer, D. M. 2009. Do inclusive leaders help to reduce turnover in diverse groups? The moderating role of leader–member exchange in the diversity to turnover relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6): 1412–1426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poppo, L., & Zhou, K. Z. 2014. Managing contracts for fairness in buyer–supplier exchanges. Strategic Management Journal, 35(10): 1508–1527.10.1002/smj.2175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, M. E. 2000. Location, competition, and economic development: Local clusters in a global economy. Economic Development Quarterly, 14(1): 15–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouder, R., & St. John, C. H. 1996. Hot spots and blind spots: Geographical clusters of firms and innovation. Academy of Management Review, 21(4): 1192–1225.10.2307/259168CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., & Smith-Doerr, L. 1996. Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(1): 116–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K. J., Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. 2006. Computational tools for probing interactions in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 31(4): 437–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheng, S., Zhou, K. Z., & Li, J. J. 2011. The effects of business and political ties on firm performance: Evidence from China. Journal of Marketing, 75(1): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smets, M., Jarzabkowski, P., Burke, G. T., & Spee, P. 2015. Reinsurance trading in Lloyd's of London: Balancing conflicting-yet-complementary logics in practice. Academy of Management Journal, 58(3): 932–970.10.5465/amj.2012.0638CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snijders, T. A. 2005. Power and sample size in multilevel linear models. In Everitt, B. & Howell, D. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of statistics in behavioral science: 1570–1573. Chicester, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Tallman, S., Jenkins, M., Henry, N., & Pinch, S. 2004. Knowledge, clusters, and competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 29(2): 258–271.10.5465/amr.2004.12736089CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. 2012. The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure, and process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, C., Hong, J., Kafouros, M., & Wright, M. 2012. Exploring the role of government involvement in outward direct investment from emerging economies. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(7): 655–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, J., Zhou, M., Greeven, M., & Qu, H. 2016. Economic governance, dual networks and innovative learning in five Chinese industrial clusters. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 33(4): 1037–1074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, Y. H. D., Lu, Y., & Chen, W. 2009. Globalizing regional development in Sunan China: Does Suzhou industrial park fit a neo-Marshallian district model? Regional Studies, 43(3): 409–427.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1985. The economic institutions of capitalism. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Wooldridge, J. 2002. Econometric analysis of cross-section and panel data. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Yan, S., Ferraro, F., & Almandoz, J. 2019. The rise of socially responsible investment funds: The paradoxical role of the financial logic. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(2): 466–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
York, J. G., Vedula, S., & Lenox, M. J. 2018. It's not easy building green: The impact of public policy, private actors, and regional logics on voluntary standards adoption. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4): 1492–1523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yue, L. Q., Wang, J., & Yang, B. 2019. Contesting commercialization: Political influence, responsive authoritarianism, and cultural resistance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(2): 435–465.10.1177/0001839218770456CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Y., Li, H. Y., & Schoonhoven, C. B. 2009. Intercommunity relationships and community growth in China high technology industries 1988–2000. Strategic Management Journal, 30(2): 163–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, H., & Chung, C. 2014. Portfolios of political ties and business group strategy in emerging economies: Evidence from Taiwan. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(4): 599–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar