SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY AND THE EVOLUTION OF NEW ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS

ANAND SWAMINATHAN, JAMES B. WADE
1999 Academy of Management Proceedings  
New organizational forms face formidable obstacles in that new roles have to be learned, external ties to supporters are often lacking, and they often must rely on social relations among strangers. As a result, new organizations suffer from a liability of newness and often fail. But, some new organizational forms survive and grow. Often these organizations overcome substantial obstacles through collective strategies that bear an uncanny resemblance to tactics and strategies adopted by
more » ... ons that spearhead social movements. In this chapter, we first note that both social movements and new organizational forms need to mobilize resources to survive and grow. We then focus on four aspects of social movements that are also likely to influence the evolution of new organizational forms: (a) the preexisting infrastructure that promotes or retards the mobilization of resources, (b) the generation of collective action frames, (c) the evolution of collective action over time, and (d) the influence of collective action on the choice of organizational form.
doi:10.5465/apbpp.1999.27627374 fatcat:afszwji4xffvvem767v5w2hwqy