Join us at AOM 2026 for our Symposium:
Institutional Death: Denial, Distrust, and Their Roles in Disrupting Institutions
When: Tuesday, August 4th, 9:45am-11:15am
Sheraton, Liberty Ballroom A – Ballroom Level
Organizers:
Maggie Cascadden - University of Manitoba
Niki Khorasani - University of Manitoba
Lianne Lefsrud - University of Alberta
Chair:
Michael Lounsbury - University of Alberta
Panelists:
Anita McGahan - University of Toronto
Jerry Davis - University of Michigan
Renate Meyer - WU Vienna
Abstract:
This symposium explores the processes that lead to institutional death — how denial and distrust can result in deinstitutionalization. Management scholarship has largely explored the creation, maintenance, and change of institutions, but have under-examined how institutions are unraveled or ended (Howard-Grenville, Metzger, & Meyer, 2013; Lawrence, Leca & Zilber, 2013) with shockingly few exceptions (Oliver, 1992; Davis, Diekmann, & Tinsley, 1994; Hiatt, Sine, & Tolbert, 2009; Maguire & Hardy, 2009). Building on the award-recognized AOM “Science Denial” symposium (Bruni & Lefsrud, 2021), we shift attention to societal-level denialism and distrust, the disruptive tactics used by organizational actors, and how these can prompt deinstitutionalization (Bruni & Lefsrud, 2025). This matters now, more than ever before, because “people around the globe are losing faith in many core societal institutions—including democracy, the professions, Universities, and science.” (Lounsbury, 2025, p. in the foreword). We, as organization scholars, are well suited to unpacking these concepts so we can identify what we might do. To this end, we bring together leading scholars to interrogate and explore the processes that could lead to institutional death from different theoretical perspectives (institutional theory, environmental and social justice, social movements, economics). During the symposium, we will draw insights from panelists, discussant comments, and a Q&A session. The goals of our symposium are to discuss why institutional death matters and provide an understanding of the phenomenon, different theoretical approaches to examine it, and novel research approaches and engaged methods to address it.
We look forward to seeing you there!
https://events.aom.org/events/aom-2026/session/cwYTVejyGLkbQdDSX5Otb
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Maggie Cascadden
University of Manitoba
maggie.cascadden@umanitoba.ca------------------------------