Rankings As a Driver of Institutionalization: the Case of Governance Reform
Abstract: What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? In this paper, I explore the institutionalization of governance reforms resultant from the use of governance rankings as a calculative device. I examine the diffusion of these practices through an organizational field shaped by the introduction of rankings, using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new practices.
