Entrenchment in status positions and the adoption of new norm-deviant organizational practices: Evidence from the Japanese banking industry, 1983–2005

We examine the effect of status entrenchment on the adoption of new norm-deviant organizational practices. Identifying organizational age and status mobility as factors affecting entrenchment, we extend the middle-status conformity theory by explicating how entrenchment moderates the relationship between status and adoption. Using original data from the Japanese loan syndication market, we show that young and new-in-status banks have a lower propensity to follow status-based adoption behavior than actors entrenched in the same status positions. We discuss implication of these results for the understanding of new practice adoption and organizational status effects.