| The concept of organizational agency is used to examine the relationship between organizations and their environments. Organizational agency is the attempts of organization members to carry out organizational goals by strategically managing the institutional environment. The issues of agency and institutionalization are explored at the individual, organizational and population levels. The population studied was a group of thirteen organizations that employ alternative dispute resolution techniques to resolve state policy disputes.; This study provides a detailed description of the institutionalization process. Two types of organizational agency were found: (1) attempts to influence the institutional environment and (2) strategic responses to institutional demands. Factors associated with a high level of organizational agency include strong organizational performance, high organizational legitimacy, close monitoring by the institutional environment, and strong government mandates affecting the organization. Although institutional research often depicts a one-way arrow of influence from environments to organizations, these findings indicate that organizations can also influence institutional environments through organizational agency. |
