Outsider-driven institutional entrepreneurship: the case of the emerging field of positive psychology education

Abstract: The phenomenon of outsider-driven institutional entrepreneurship may appear both paradoxical and opaque. We examine outsider-driven institutional entrepreneurship by drawing on an in-depth qualitative case study of the emerging field of positive psychology education. We investigate how institutional entrepreneurs, located outside Kuwait’s Ministry of Education, enabled actors inside the Ministry both to deviate from existing institutional arrangements and to institutionalize new practices. Our findings illustrate that outsider-driven institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields starts with ‘normalization’, that is, the production of claims, arguments, and evidence, about the effectiveness of the newly proposed practices. Our study contributes to the literature on outsider-driven institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields by identifying a set of critical activities associated with deviation from prevailing institutional arrangements, and the institutionalization of innovation.

Author(s): Mohsen Abumuamar & Adrian Campbell

Date Published: March 1 2024

Depositing User: Basiratu Kolawole

DOI: 10.1007/s10490-022-09837-6

Keywords: Emerging field, Institutional change, Institutional entrepreneurship, Outsiders & Middle East

Pages: 107–134

Place of publication: United Kingdom

Publisher: Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Subject(s): Business

Type of publication: Journal Paper

Published URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-022-09837-6