State Intrusion, Identity Conflict, and Radical Organizational Change at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

• In Event: 540 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Science Policy and Governance

Abstract

This study suggests that formal organizational structure displays the configuration of organizational identity, and a strong state constrains organizations’ pursuit of distinctive identities. When the state pushed the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to start businesses in the 1980s, it stirred organizational identity conflict: “Are we a scientific or business organization?” When the state was more willing to support research in the 1990s, CAS managed to develop scientific identity into its central identity. CAS-owned enterprises without research and development (R&D) experienced greater risks of discontinuation because they failed to exhibit the sacred scientific identity. The positive effect of having no R&D on the likelihood of discontinuation was stronger for enterprises with high levels of profits because they exhibited a salient yet profane business identity, and for enterprises in an institute where an elite group of scientists (Academicians) was more senior because these scientists were highly committed to scientific identity.

Author

• Dali Ma, Drexel University