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Measuring the Unmeasured: An Institutional Entrepreneur Strategy in an Emerging Industry

University of Paris Dauphine, f.dejean{at}libertysurf.fr

Jean-Pascal Gond

LIRHE (University of Toulouse 1), jean-pascal.gond{at}univ-tlse1.fr

Bernard Leca

CLAREE (University of Lille 1), ESSEC Business School PhD programme, bernard.leca{at}free.fr

The organizational literature on emerging industries has emphasized the need for institutional entrepreneurs - actors who give the new activity legitimacy and determine its patterns of behaviour. However, little empirical research has been carried out on the strategies that institutional entrepreneurs employ in order to achieve legitimacy for their activity. In this article, we suggest that an institutional entrepreneur can use the development of measurement tools as a strategy to develop its own legitimacy and power. By looking at a French entrepreneurial company’s development of tools to measure corporate social performance, we analyse how measurement tools influence the legitimacy of an industry and the systemic power within it. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for research into measurement tools in the areas of management or business and society.

Key Words: corporate social performance • institutional entrepreneur • measurement tools • socially responsible investment • social rating

Human Relations, Vol. 57, No. 6, 741-764 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726704044954


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