Many comparative political economists hold that market performance depends on the presence of institutional complementarities. Some argue that when institutions reinforce similar incentives markets work best. Others disagree and argue that for markets to function well institutions must compensate for each other’s shortcomings rather than reinforce each other’s incentives. This paper uses eviden...

In this article, we apply transaction cost theory (TCT) and institutional theory to the realm of IS outsourcing. TCT posits that firm’s outsourcing governance is influenced by transaction cost factors, namely, bounded rationality, opportunism, and risk. Institutional theory, on the other hand, has been advocated to explain non-choice behavior of organizations in the context of competitors, norm...

We drew on institutional and learning theories to develop a research model assessing how organizations influence standards deployment and integration by creating institutional pressures and learning opportunities. We also examined how standards deployment and integration differentially influenced operational and strategic benefits. Survey data was collected from organizations in China who have ...

Of recent interest is the capacity of international health agencies to adapt to changes in the global health environment and country needs. Yet, little is known about the potential benefits of using social science institutional theory, such as path dependency and institutional change theory, to explain why some international agencies, such as the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculo...

I use data from the General Social Survey, the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) the Census and the Fraser Institute, among others, to test different theories that attempt to explain why individuals demand (goods and services from) nonprofit organizations and/or choose to create nonprofit organizations and extends the analysis by incorporating the relevance of different instituti...

Compact city development has, over the last 20 years or so, emerged as the preferred response to the goal of sustainable development. As such, it is pertinent to examine planning practices to see whether the traditional economic bias in planning is now balanced by aims and practices in support of environmental and social sustainability. In this light the social, environmental, and economic goal...

This article argues that the relatively new field of personnel economics (PE) holds strong potential as a tool for studying public sector workforces. This subfield of labor economics is based on a strong foundation of microeconomics, which provides a robust theoretical foundation for studying workforce and organizational design issues. PE has evolved on this foundation to a strong practical emp...