Institutional change at the frontlines : A comparative ethnography of divergent responses to institutional demands

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how actors within, on the surface, similar organizations cope and work with imposed institutional changes. Design methodology/approach – This research is based on an ethnographic field study addressing why, despite being exposed to the same institutional demands, organizational actors respond by developing diverging institutional orders of appropriate organizational conduct. This research examines how middle managers and frontline staff in two similar Danish social care organizations respond to demands to adopt a New Public Management (NPM)‐based logic of individualized service delivery. Findings – The study shows how institutional diversity may underlie apparently similar organizational structures and responses. NPM‐style modernization efforts partly converged with diverse professional motives and rationales around, on the surface, similar organizational changes. The findings illustrate how differential institutional orders are maintained by middle managers and frontline staff despite exposure to the same demands. Research limitations/implications – There are different limitations to this ethnographic field study due to the character of the methodology, the limited number of organizations, informants and time span covered. Attending to micro‐level processes within organizations provides a rich understanding of how particular forms of organization and action emerge in response to institutional demands. This calls for more ethnographic research on how actors within organizations cope and work institutional change. Originality/value – Relatively little organizational research has addressed how individual actors at the lower levels of organizations cope and work with institutional changes using ethnographic methodology.