A Review of Theory-method Packages in Empirical Institutional Research: Recognizing the Temporality of Research Practices

This paper examines the relationship between the institutional phenomena we study, the methods we use to do so, and the knowledge claims we make based on them. Drawing on a systematic literature review of empirical institutional research, we make three contributions. First, we present a historic analysis of how the methods used and knowledge claims generated by empirical institutional research articles have evolved over time, concomitant with the shifting priorities of institutional scholarship. Second, we identify, characterize, and illustrate three overarching theory-method packages evident in institutional scholarship: historic studies reconstructing macrodynamics, process studies tracing microdynamics, and variance-based studies testing microdynamics. Third, we analyze these three packages with a particular view to the levels of phenomena that they study, and the temporalities associated with this process. We present a framework for engaging in temporal reflexivity that can help scholars see crucial alignments and misalignments between their own organizational and institutional contingencies, the phenomena they study and theorize about, and the theory-method packages they use to do so.