How Do Institutional Prescriptions (Fail to) Address Governance Challenges Under Institutional Hybridity? The Case of Governance Code Creation for Cooperative Enterprises
[en] Codes of governance have mushroomed in contexts operating under a single, dominant institutional logic, such as publicly listed corporations. These codes act as institutional prescriptions that help spread best practices throughout industries. More recently, in some countries, specific codes have been developed for hybrid organizations that integrate multiple, conflicting institutional logics simultaneously, such as cooperative enterprises. Drawing on an extensive set of qualitative data, we ask how such institutional prescriptions may (fail to) address governance challenges in organizations with multiple, conflicting institutional demands. In doing so, we extend current literature on governance of hybrid organizations, which has so far focused on individual and organizational levels, to include institutional-level strategies. While governance codes are often inspired by deontological ethics to solve issues in a single institutional logic, we find that governance codes for hybrid organizations should not prioritize a single institutional logic, nor follow a deontological approach to improving governance, but should, on a more pragmatist take, remain open to continuous learning.
Research Center/Unit :
CES - Centre d'Économie Sociale - ULiège
Disciplines :
General management, entrepreneurship & organizational theory Social economics
Author, co-author :
Cossey, Jozef; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ; UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Billiet, Adrien; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Dufays, Frédéric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Entrepreneuriat social et durable ; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Bruneel, Johan; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ; UMR 9221, IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, LEM -Lille Economie Management, Lille, France
Language :
English
Title :
How Do Institutional Prescriptions (Fail to) Address Governance Challenges Under Institutional Hybridity? The Case of Governance Code Creation for Cooperative Enterprises
Publication date :
2025
Journal title :
Journal of Business Ethics
ISSN :
0167-4544
eISSN :
1573-0697
Publisher :
Wolters Kluwer, Netherlands
Volume :
196
Pages :
451-470
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Development Goals :
8. Decent work and economic growth 17. Partnerships for the goals
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