Organizational Isomorphism during Crisis: Market Practices and U.S. Art Museums, 2006–2011

How do organizations respond to extreme environmental challenges? We revisit DiMaggio and Powell and examine the shift in isomorphic behaviors that occur during a crisis, illustrating how shocks result in the use of nontraditional practices. We empirically examine the impact of the 2008 economic crisis on U.S. art museums’ isomorphic referent transitions in the use of market practices before and after the crisis, covering 2006 to 2011. Our findings indicate that museums altered the scope of mimetic isomorphism, and as a result, U.S. art museums sought solutions by shifting reference groups that were structurally (leader vs. peer), physically (geographical region), or organizational (social networks) proximate during the crisis. We elaborate our understanding of isomorphic behavior as a key factor during times of crisis that destabilized institutional environments, both symbolic and resource spaces. This finding can be generalized to other organizational settings beyond art museums.