The institutional consequences of decoupling exposure

Abstract

What happens to a norm when it becomes publicly known that organizations are decoupling their activities from it? Since the publication of Meyer and Rowan’s pivotal paper, the institutional consequences of publicly denouncing that organizations engage in decoupling have been examined only tangentially. Our article fills this gap by offering a model that explains the institutional consequences of decoupling exposure. We show how sanctions, initial norm validity, reactions of exposed organizations, and evaluations by field members witnessing the exposure lead to either the reinforcement or the disruption of a norm that is transgressed. We also offer a counter-intuitive explanation as to why decoupling exposure may actually weaken rather than reinforce norms that activists attempt to promote by exposing decoupling.