Institutional economics is often presented by its critics as a tradition in political economy purporting a mechanistic, robot-like, view of the human agent. In this paper this portrayal of institutional economics is rejected and choice is reclaimed for institutionalism. In fact, institutional economics is not committed to an understanding of behavior as mere stimulus-response. Notwithstanding the fact that institutionalism places great emphasis on habit in human conduct, this does not mean that it excludes autonomy, volition or rationality.The paper addresses the notion of habit within the pragmatist-institutionalist tradition with the aim of clarifying this concept, disentangling it from current misconceptions. With the intention of contributing to the development of a theory of choice in institutionalism, it then deals with deliberation and choice in the pragmatist literature, namely in John Dewey's Human Action and Conduct. Finally, the implications of deliberation thus conceived, namely in respect to collective action and institutional change, are highlighted.
This article introduces the special issue on New Perspectives on the Trust-Control Nexus in Organizational Relations. Trust and control are interlinked processes commonly seen as key to reach effectiveness in inter- and intraorganizational relations. The relation between trust and control is, however, a complex one, and research into this relation has given rise to various and contradictory interpretations of how trust and control relate. A well-known discussion is directed at whether trust and control are better conceived as substitutes, or as complementary mechanisms of governance. The articles in this special issue bring the discussion on the relationship between both concepts a step further by identifying common factors, distinctive mechanisms, and key implications relevant for theory building and empirical research. By studying trust and control through different perspectives and at different levels of analysis, the articles provide new theoretical insights and empirical evidence on the foundations of the trust-control interrelations.
This article aims at contributing to the understanding of the trust-control nexus. The objective is to bring the discussion around the relationship between both concepts a step further by identifying common foundations, distinctive mechanisms and key implications relevant for theory-building and empirical research on trust and control. First, the concept of trust and related concepts are introduced. Second, the developments related to the diminished effectiveness of control and a growing importance of trust in both intra- and inter-organizational relations are discussed. Finally, the state of the art regarding the trust-control nexus and a brief summary of the four articles included in this special issue are provided.
Abstract Sustainability assessment is a very subjective and complex procedure. However, whether to cope with climate change, market pressures or new environmental policies, winegrowers are today looking for ways to improve and measure their performance. Nevertheless, there is still a great demand of more information and better evaluation methodologies as most of general assessment frameworks are environmentally focused, non-context-comprehensive or even unfit to evaluate permanent crops such as viticulture. To consider context-comprehensiveness is therefore seen as fundamental in research of this nature. Our objective is to explore nationwide perceptions of upper echelon individuals from the Portuguese wine industry regarding sustainability issues and better ways to assess it. By covering nine of the 14 wine regions in Portugal, the aim is to spot intercultural trends and get a wider picture of the sector´s sustainability awareness. A grounded theory approach was used for the complexity of the topic and for allowing to uncover potential perspective-paradoxes or trade-offs. After collecting data through in-depth interviews, an inductive qualitative-content analysis was applied using IRAMUTEQ software. Results displayed key criteria and insights grouped in four clusters from three distinct ramifications. Beyond the mention of critical factors about the sector´s environmental impacts from the production to packaging phase, distribution and transportation, concerns regarding intergenerational equity gap and non-equitable development opportunities for rural areas were also gathered. One ramification was based on the need to have access to proper sustainability assessment tools. From the urgency to develop a sustainability framework or even certification scheme for increasing consumer demands and export market pressures, to the importance to provide a practical toolkit with lifecycle guidelines, user-friendly and able to support decision-making, two clusters were created. This study reported findings can serve as a reference to wine managers and policy-makers pursuing sustainable development goals.