Stern and Barley (1996, p. 154) argue that the organizational research community can provide a
corrective to law and economics’ “overly rational and coercive mechanisms” for understanding environmental
issues. In organizational sociology, theories have constantly evolved to try to provide a
realistic account of how decision making takes place and the importance of context. Scott describes
the most recent wave of theories as an open system perspective Scott and Davis (2007). These theories
view organizational actions as being embedded in broader environments. Open systems theories
include Hannan and Freeman’s (1977) organizational ecology model, Pfeffer and Salancik’s (1978)
resource dependence model, and Meyer and Rowan’s institutional theory (1977; see also DiMaggio
& Powell, 1983). At the heart of all these perspectives is the question of what motivates organizational
behavior and decision making.