Institutional Work Affecting Institutions in a Tourism Cluster

Abstract

This article aims at understanding how institutional work influenced the implementation of the Tourist Route Senses of Countryside (TRSC), located in two cities in Paraná, Brazil, between 2009 and 2018. It is a descriptive qualitative case study, whose data were collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation, and documents, which were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results showed that the implementation of the route was based on creation, maintenance, and interruption of institutional work, and on alteration of the regulatory, normative, and cognitive pillars of the organizational field, involving different actors (public and private). The main theoretical contribution of the research was to identify the types of institutional work and to reconcile them with typologies of institutional pillars. Also, it has practical implications for public policymakers and organizational actors, intending to establish and institutionalize a tourism cluster in rural areas, considered a source of regional economic development.