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Governmental Context Determines Institutional Value: Independently Certified Performance and Failure in the Spanish Newspaper Industry

Department of Business Administration, Carlos III University, Calle Madrid, 126, 28903 Getafe, Spain, mnunez{at}emp.uc3m.es

Isabel Gutiérrez

Department of Business Administration, Carlos III University, Calle Madrid, 126; 28903 Getafe, Spain, isagut{at}eco.uc3m.es

Salvador Carmona

Instituto de Empresa Business School, Calle María de Molina, 12–5, Madrid, Spain, salvador.carmona{at}ie.edu

Many societies demand that independent professionals (e.g. auditors) certify the performance of firms. The value placed on such certification (i.e. the public perception of reliability/unreliability that may impact on an organization's success/failure) is not uniform, however, but contingent upon changing political contexts. This study presents and analyses data on the entire population of newspapers in Spain from 1966 to 1993, a time of peaceful transition from military dictatorship to capitalist democracy. Our results highlight the contingent nature of institutional life, demonstrating how changes in political contexts are associated with varying understandings of institutions. In particular, our findings support the prediction that, under a dictatorship, independently certified performance is not instrumental in organizational success or failure whereas, in a modern democracy, the certification process has a positive effect on the survival chances of firms.

Key Words: independently certified performance • institutional sociology • political regimes • newspaper organizations • organizational failure • Spain

This version was published on October 1, 2006

Organization Studies, Vol. 27, No. 10, 1513-1531 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840606067505


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