Institutional logics, the underlying governing principles of societal sectors, strongly influence organizational decision making. Any shift in institutional logics results in a similar shift in attention to alternative problems and solutions and in new determinants for executive decisions. Examining changes in institutional logics in higher-education publishing, this book links cultural analysis with organizational decision making to develop a theory of attention and explain how executives concentrate on certain market characteristics to the exclusion of others.
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Patricia Thornton is Associate Professor at Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. She is the recipient of the American Sociological Association's W. Richard Scott award for the best organizations research article.