A sociocognitive interpretation of organizational downsizing

To better understand the phenomenon of organizational downsizing, we compar e three theoretical perspectives on downsizing: the economic, the instituti onal, and the sociocognitive. We use the three perspectives to organize the growing empirical literature on downsizing, and we link streams of empiric al work to the theoretical perspective that underlies each. With our socioc ognitive model, we argue that downsizing has become institutionalized throu gh the collectivization and reification of a "downsizing is effective" sche ma. We also discuss implications for future theory and research.