Zeitgeist and Ortgeist: Time and Place in Institutional Creation

Abstract

How are institutions created is one of the most interesting questions in institutional theory. Some strands of literature favour heroic explanations: mythologizing individuals with vision, tenacity and drive and putting these individuals on the pedestal of the institution. Institutional work literature advocates a more diffuse model whereby the collective effort of institutional actors over time contributes to institutional creation. Drawing on our ethnographic study of the Scottish Parliament, we examined the roles of different institutional actors through the theoretical lens of materiality. We focused on the material base for the institution, the building that houses the Parliament. We asked two questions: How do institutional actors interact with the material nature of the building in institutional creation? And how do these institutional actors, individually and collectively, create the spirit of the place in a new building? We identified some mechanisms in which institutional actors interact with the material nature of the building: mythologizing the institution, searching for discursive legitimacy, accentuating differentiation from other institutions and making incremental changes in the fabric of the building. While acknowledging the importance of the heroic narratives in institutional creation, we draw analytic attention to the collective effort by institutional actors who create the institution and its building over time.