A Pact with the Devil? Resource Acquisition Engagement with Alternative Logics

Paper in proceeding, 2011

Recent research has explored how organizations respond to institutional complexity, that is situations in which pressures from multiple logics are present. While extant studies have viewed institutional complexity as a source of contradictions, we consider how organizations may deliberately seek exposure to alternative logics in order to acquire resources. We present an inductive study of university-research centres, which are research groups based at universities but sponsored by corporations. We develop a process model of how centre participants at first reached settlements that exploited institutional complementarities, and then dealt with the arising logics tensions via organizational design. We conclude with implications for work on institutional complexity, ambidexterity and resource dependence theory.