How New Practices Change Institutional Logics: The Introduction of Agile in a Telco MNC

While the interplay between practices and logics is a central tenant of the institutional logics perspective, we still know little about how institutional logics are affected and modified by the introduction of new practices. Our work investigates how the introduction of new practices meant to foster innovation leads to the emergence and stabilization of new institutional logics which deplete long term exploration processes. We conducted a qualitative study of 8 R&D units in a telco multinational company adopting agile practices tout-court. Our grounded model shows different stages and mechanisms through which new practices lead to new logics. In a pre-formation stage, organizational mechanisms, such as the involvement of high status actors and the use of team interlocks, facilitate the diffusion and routinization of agile practices. In a second step, the formation stage, the individual repetition of practices is driven by utilitarian, functional, power, and legitimation mechanisms, and team sensemaking happens through the progressive ritualization of practices. In particular, repeated practices become internalized as ceremonies and rituals and get institutionalized in new logics. In the final lock-in phase the new logics are further reinforced and stabilized as they turn into ‘automatic’ habits of behavior, with negative consequences for the long-term innovation capability of the organization. Our theorizing contributes to the understanding of the meso and micro mechanisms through which practices turn into logics and the paradoxical consequences of the introduction of new innovation practices, such as agile, within organizations.