Institutional theory is on the rise. During the past three decades, the field of organization studies has witnessed a succession of theoretical perspectives--including contingency theory, resource dependency, and population ecology--that focus attention on one or another aspect of organizations. Only institutional theory highlights the importance of the wider social and cultural environment as the "ground" in which organizations are rooted. The original work in The Institutional Construction of Organizations sheds new light on the study of organizations. The editors bring together work from two different research traditions--the United States and Europe. The collection also layers in several important perspectives of institutional theory, including empirical observations, longitudinal analyses, market-based organizational forms, and attention to the concepts of agency and strategy. The result is a finely textured, fully developed work for scholars and advanced students of organizational theory and behavior.