Recycling the garbage can: An assessment of the research program

The garbage can theory of organizational choice is one of the best-known in novations in modem organization theory. It also has significantly shaped a major branch of the new institutionalism. Yet, the theory has not received the systematic assessment that it both deserves and needs. We evaluate the early verbal theory and argue that it fails to create an adequate foundatio n for scientific progress. We then analyze and rerun Cohen, March, and Olse n's computer model and discover that its agents move in lockstep patterns t hat are strikingly different from the spirit of the theory. indeed the simu lation and the theory ave incompatible. Next, we examine how the authors ha ve built upon these incompatible formulations in developing the theory furt her We assess this larger program, which includes the March-Olsen version o f the new institutionalism, and find that many of the problems that attende d the original article have intensified over time. We conclude that a funda mental overhaul is required if the theory is to realize its early promise.