Representing, Re‐presenting, or Producing the Past? Memory Work amongst Museum Employees

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Abstract

Though it is widely understood that the past can be an important resource for organizations, less is known about the micro-level skills and choices that help to materialize different representations of the past. We understand these micro-level skills and choices as a practice: ‘memory work’ – a banner term gathering various activities that provide the scaffolding for a shared past. Seeking to learn from a context where memory work is central, we share insights from a quasi-longitudinal study of UK museum employees. We theorize three ideal-typic regimes of memory work, namely representing, re-presenting and producing the past, and detail the micro-practices through which these regimes are enacted. Through explaining the key features of memory work in this context, our paper offers novel, broader insights into the relationship between occupations and memory work, showing how occupations differ in their understanding of memory and how this shapes their memory work.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Underconformity to Female Board Representation Norms

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Abstract

Despite mounting societal demands for increased female representation on corporate boards, some firms underconform to institutional expectations, exhibiting significantly lower female board representation than their country peers. We argue that a firm's entrepreneurial orientation is positively viewed by stakeholders, providing its corporate leaders with greater latitude to deviate from governance norms. Drawing from social role theory regarding beliefs about the association between entrepreneurial success and typical male traits, we propose that this substitutive legitimacy drives corporate leaders of firms with an entrepreneurial orientation to underconform due to a desire to maintain their firm's orientation. However, the history of female leadership in the firm and disclosure about environmental and social activities moderate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on underconformity to female board representation norms. A generalized estimating equations analysis of 8410 firm-year observations in 16 countries from 2012 to 2018 supports our predictions. Our study offers a novel explanation of heterogeneity in female board representation, informs theory of organizational non-conformity to institutional norms, and highlights potentially unintended consequences of entrepreneurial orientation.