Institutional entrepreneurship in public organizations and institutional voids in emerging economies

Deploying institutional entrepreneurship theory, this longitudinal case study investigates the micro-institutional context and changes in field and organizational structures and processes of a public organization directed to overcome institutional voids of regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive nature observed in emerging economies. The empirical elements stems from an in-depth case study of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India. First, our rich dataset offers insights into how pioneering intra-organizational processes can rationalize practices and culture within institutional entrepreneur. More specifically, the internal mechanism of an institutional entrepreneur is developed to overcome inertial and cultural barriers for adoption of new ways of aligning organizational capabilities. Second, we observe how institutional entrepreneurship can help overcome the institutional voids. We investigate how effective network interface management can be achieved between public organizations, financiers and contractors through capability building in respective organizations which helps address the issue of institutional voids. This study offers invaluable insights into how public organizations evolve during live projects to meet the challenges of voids in their institutional environment. Practical implications and further research avenues are discussed.