Dynamic Isomorphism and Decision Maker Attributes

This research seeks to contribute to neo-institutionalism by connecting cognitive variables of the decision maker to the decision maker’s ability to take non-isomorphic action. The insights developed in this article are based on the study of a business school in India, and the case study method has been adopted with participant observer technique. The study shows that organisations are sometimes exposed to more than one of the isomorphic forces—coercive, mimetic, and normative, the forces acting together or against each other. In such situations the decision maker is sometimes required to adopt non-isomorphic actions, which signify a departure from the dominant force. I have used the concepts of institutional theory and stakeholder-agency theory, and the evidence in the case, to argue that the decision maker needs the cognitive ability of systems thinking in order to adopt non-isomorphic actions. Two attributes, moral agency and self-efficacy, act as moderators in influencing the decision maker’s ability for non-isomorphic action. A model has been developed based on the above propositions.