TOWARD AN INSTITUTIONAL ECOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONAL FOUNDING

In this study, we demonstrate how the ecological and institutional cha racteristics of organizational niches affect the likelihood of organiz ational foundings. We describe and measure key ecological, institution al, organizational, and spatial properties of organizational niches. O ur theoretical framework emphasizes how the effects of ecological and institutional processes vary both within and between nonprofit and for -profit sectors and across levels of geographic aggregation. An analys is of day care center founding in Metropolitan Toronto supports our ma in theoretical expectations. Thus studying multiple dimensions indepen dently and interactively provides a richer, more comprehensive treatme nt of the context of organizational founding.