Knowledge Economy and the Emergence of Less-hierarchical Organizational Structures: An Institutionalist Approach

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of horizontal and less-hierarchical governance structures in organizations. The present paper argues that this development can be read as an institutional transition, within organizations themselves, in response to the rise of knowledge economy. Drawing also upon the related literature on hunter and gatherers, the paper shows that asset-based production is generally related with hierarchical social relations, whereas knowledge-based economic activity tends to generate relatively horizontal and egalitarian structures. It is argued in the paper that a similar dynamic is at work in today’s knowledge-based organizations, and that the institutional approach has the conceptual tools to study this transformation. In this regard, the paper aims to open up a theoretical space where the tools of institutional theory can be used, not only in the study of macro social-structures, but also in that of organizations and their transformations. Some further theoretical and practical implications of this approach are discussed in the final section.

Keywords

• knowledge economy
• technology
• organizations
• less-hierarchical structures

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