Institutional Logics in Inter-institutional Temporary Organizations: A Theoretical Exposé and Empirical Investigation

Institutional rules and regulations play an increasingly important role in modern society – to guide individual and collective action and to ensure efficient processes of collaboration. However, more and more collaboration cut across organizational fields which in some cases put challenges to collaboration efforts. This is perhaps particularly noteworthy in the context of temporary organizations that are set to govern cross-institutional collaboration. This paper addresses, through the use of an explorative qualitative case study, how the three facets of institutional demands – cultural-cognitive, normative, and regulative – are unfolding and evolving in such contexts. The case study addresses the integration and disintegration of logics and normative orders in an ongoing process characterized by the co-mingling, co-existence, creation and resolutions of hybrid logics and creation of institutional exceptions throughout the life of the studied temporary organization. In that respect, this paper contributes with a more nuanced view on the evolution, dynamics, and co-existence of pressures from multiple institutional demands at the organizational level.