TY - JOUR

T1 - The Practical Significance of History: When and How History Can Be Used for Institutional Change

AU - Fey, Laura

AU - Schupfer, Hannah

AU - Eng, Natalie

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Institutional change is widely acknowledged as critical to tackling grand challenges.However, deeply rooted historical patterns of action often constraintransformative efforts. While recent research emphasizes that actors can mobilizehistory as a resource, less attention has been paid to how their interpretationsof history are shaped – and constrained – by their sociomaterial contexts.In this paper, we introduce two subjective orientations toward history: historyas an anchor, in which actors treat history as fixed and draw on dominant narrativesto legitimize incremental change, and history as a project, in whichactors view history as malleable and actively reassemble historical elements tosupport transformative change. These orientations, shaped by actors’ relationalpositions, influence the kinds of change actors pursue and how they attemptto legitimize those efforts. By centering actors’ interpretations of history andtheir relational embeddedness, we advance knowledge of how actors’ interpretationsof history influence the pace, scope, and nature of change efforts.Furthermore, we provide guidance for practitioners navigating institutionalchange, emphasizing the importance of reflexivity in historical engagements and suggesting that the attention to diversity of historical perspectives amongstakeholders is required to manage historical dissonance and foster inclusiveand sustainable change.

AB - Institutional change is widely acknowledged as critical to tackling grand challenges.However, deeply rooted historical patterns of action often constraintransformative efforts. While recent research emphasizes that actors can mobilizehistory as a resource, less attention has been paid to how their interpretationsof history are shaped – and constrained – by their sociomaterial contexts.In this paper, we introduce two subjective orientations toward history: historyas an anchor, in which actors treat history as fixed and draw on dominant narrativesto legitimize incremental change, and history as a project, in whichactors view history as malleable and actively reassemble historical elements tosupport transformative change. These orientations, shaped by actors’ relationalpositions, influence the kinds of change actors pursue and how they attemptto legitimize those efforts. By centering actors’ interpretations of history andtheir relational embeddedness, we advance knowledge of how actors’ interpretationsof history influence the pace, scope, and nature of change efforts.Furthermore, we provide guidance for practitioners navigating institutionalchange, emphasizing the importance of reflexivity in historical engagements and suggesting that the attention to diversity of historical perspectives amongstakeholders is required to manage historical dissonance and foster inclusiveand sustainable change.

KW - Sociology

KW - Management studies

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 2026

SP - 183

EP - 203

JO - Research in the Sociology of Organizations

JF - Research in the Sociology of Organizations

SN - 0733-558X

IS - 100

ER -