The failure of hybrid organizations: a legitimation perspective

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Siwale, J. ORCID: 0000-0002-6315-0896, Kimmitt, J. and Amankwah-Amoah, J., 2020. The failure of hybrid organizations: a legitimation perspective. Management and Organization Review. ISSN 1740-8776 (Forthcoming)

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Abstract

Organizational hybridity refers to the combination of multiple institutional logics and identities that, within an organizational setting, do not conventionally complement one another. In such conditions, organizations must develop strategies to combine logics and sustain their hybrid forms. Success, however, is not inevitable. In this paper, we take a legitimacy-as-process perspective to focus on a failed Microfinance Organization (MFO) in the African context of Zambia. MFOs represent a fascinating context because of their hybrid nature and need to balance several competing institutional demands. We utilise field interviews to analyse the process through which MFOs fail, analysing actor legitimation responses to emerging hybridity demands. We identify three phases associated with these changes: 1) dependent coupling (2) misaligning legitimation and (3) circumnavigating over conformity. Our findings emphasise that legitimation efforts in a failed hybrid are not simply the reverse of those that succeed. We observe adaptive processes consistent with successful hybrids but that ultimately sow the seeds of eventual failure. This demonstrates the need to re-think the role of legitimation strategies in hybrids alongside their potential deleterious consequences.
Keywords: Institutional complexity, microfinance, failure, legitimation, hybrid organizations.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Management and Organization Review

Creators:

Siwale, J., Kimmitt, J. and Amankwah-Amoah, J.

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Date:

21 August 2020

ISSN:

1740-8776