STRUCTURING A THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS - INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COEVOLUTION IN THE EARLY THRIFT INDUSTRY

The authors investigate the coevolution of organizations and instituti ons-they study how institutional definitions, rules, and expectations unfold in tandem with the organizational structures and processes that embody those institutions. The research site is the early thrift indu stry. Changes in thrifts' technical environment (the rise of a transie nt and heterogeneous population) and institutional environment (the ri se of Progressivism) propelled this coevolutionary process. The coevol ution of thrift organizations and institutions proceeded primarily thr ough selection. Adaptation was constrained by both institutional facto rs (it was difficult to adopt a novel institutional logic) and technic al factors (early thrifts were generally small, so entry and exit were easy).