| Using quantitative and qualitative techniques in a case study methodology, this dissertation examines how institutional entrepreneurs emerge and attempt to change the established order in a mature field in crisis . The study uses both primary and secondary data to study a reform group that came into existence in response to a challenge to the social identity of its members. Three different data sources are used to triangulate: newspapers, organizational record, and semi structured interviews. The findings show that identity shapes the emergence, goals, actions, and strategic choices of the institutional entrepreneur. Contrary to the extant literature which emphasizes collective interests over collective identities in mobilizing action, this research finds that identity can be more salient than interests in the emergence of institutional entrepreneurship. Their social identity, and also their personal identity, first brought together the members of the reform group and later shaped their goals and collective identity. Furthermore, the dissertation shows that such social identity can be deployed as strategy and give meaning to the strategic and tactical choices of the emergent institutional entrepreneur in their efforts to change the role associated with the challenged social identity. To mobilize collective action and maintain their identity, the institutional entrepreneur engages in identity work throughout the change process. Theorization of a new role is done by using two different strategies, "identity for education" to change one aspect of the existing role, and "identity for enactment" to keep another aspect stable. These strategies allow the institutional entrepreneur to affect change as an internal change agent. I develop a model linking the field and action level in which the institutional entrepreneur's revision and encoding of institutional logics is guided by actions taken in response to a challenged social identity and the desire to create a new role within the field. |
