Building Sustainable Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Commercial Microfinance Organizations
2010/12/01 by Julie Battilana, Silvia Dorado · 2,832 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Business #Computer science #Economic growth #Economics #Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences #Industrial organization #Innovation and Socioeconomic Development #Knowledge management #Marketing #Microfinance #Microfinance and Financial Inclusion #Process management
paper · doi:10.5465/amj.2010.57318391
published in Academy of Management Journal 53(6), 1419-1440 (Academy of Management)
openalex publication_date 2010/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics in unprecedented ways) can develop and maintain their hybrid nature in the absence of a “ready-to-wear” model for handling the tensions between the logics they combine. The results of our comparative study of two pioneering commercial microfinance organizations suggest that to be sustainable, new types of hybrid organizations need to create a common organizational identity that strikes a balance between the logics they combine. Our evidence further suggests that the crucial early levers for developing such an organizational identity among organization members are hiring and socialization policies.
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