INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND STRUCTURATION - STUDYING THE LINKS BETWEEN ACTION AND INSTITUTION

Institutional theory and structuration theory both contend that instit utions and actions are inextricably Linked and that institutionalizati on is best understood as a dynamic, ongoing process. Institutionalists , however, have pursued an empirical agenda that has largely ignored h ow institutions are created, altered, and reproduced, in part, because -their models of institutionalization as a process are underdeveloped. Structuration theory, on the other hand, largely remains a process th eory of such abstraction that it has generated few empirical studies. This paper discusses the similarities between the two theories, develo ps an argument for why a fusion of the two would enable institutional theory to significantly advance, develops a model of institutionalizat ion as a structuration process, and proposes methodological guidelines for investigating the process empirically.