Heimstädt, M., & Möllering, G. (2017) Let’s talk about time! Temporal talk as a coordination mechanism in institutional work
Abstract: Agency is a focal and contested issue in studies on institutional change. One aspect that is not understood very well yet is how multiple dispersed actors achieve distributed agency when engaged in institutional work. Conceptualizing agency in its temporal orientation, we propose that effective distributed agency depends in a large part on how multiple actors talk about, align, and link their interpretations of past, present and future. Institutional theory needs to account for actors’ time orientations in distributed agency and institutional work to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of coordination.
Keywords: insitutional work, sociology, coordination, sociological Neo-Institutionalism
This nano-paper is published through the DFG-funded research network “The dormant potential of new institutionalism” and available for download here.