In Search of Excellence: Fads, Success Stories, and Adaptive Emulation1

By D. Strang, Michael W. Macy. American Journal of Sociology, 2001

583 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Management Science and Operations Research, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c53c4512ac622e0acbb73fc328c1eb1d7b898164

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Citations in the corpus

The role of institutional and reputational factors in the voluntary adoption of corporate social responsibility reporting standards (2011, background): “While the media can be a formidable force in the dissemination of innovative practices ( Strang and Macy 2001 ), its role would be stronger during the legitimation period.”
Thought and Behavior Contagion in Capital Markets (2008, unknown): “It is often alleged in the popular press that managers are foolishly prone to fads in management methods (for examples and formal analysis see Strang and Macy (2001)), investment choices, and disclosure or reporting practices.”
The success of a policy model: Irrigation management transfer in Mexico (2006, background): “This accelerating dynamic can generate ‘cascades of adoption’ and ‘institutional mimicry’, very similar to fads in the business community and fashions in popular culture (Strang and Macy, 2001: 147).”
Organizational Learning in Target Setting (2017, unknown): “Observing theoutcomes of comparable organizations helps infer their actions and cause–effect relationships, which can be extrapolated and adapted by the organization observing (Strang & Macy, 2001).”
Why Adopt Codes of Good Governance? A Comparison of Institutional and Efficiency Perspectives (2008, unknown): “…explain the adoption of new practices and their homogeneity within a social system by referring to two main theoretical approaches: efficiency theory and institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Strang and Soule, 1998; Strang and Macy, 2001; Tolbert and Zucker, 1983; Westphal et al., 1997).”
Bringing the Context Back In: Settings and the Search for Syndicate Partners in Venture Capital Investment Networks (2008, background): “Similarly, Strang and Macy (2001) proposed a theory of fads tailored to the business community, wherein organizations experiencing poor performance engage in “adaptive emulation,” mimicking the behavior of more successful rivals, causing a convergence in practice.”
The Global Diffusion of Public Policies: Social Construction, Coercion, Competition or Learning? (2007, unknown): “F or p er so na l u se o nl y. ANRV316-SO33-21 ARI 24 May 2007 11:8 a leader (Strang & Macy 2001).”
Social structure and technology spillovers from foreign to domestic firms (2012, methodology): “Simulation methods are also routinely used to study how micro-level interactions between actors (such as social network ties) influence the diffusion of technology (Bae & Coo, 2008; Centola & Macy, 2007; Strang & Macy, 2001), which essentially is the very process underlying FDI spillovers as well.”