تلخیص
Sectors or industries characterized by limited or no use of technology to innovate are called lowtechnology (LT) sectors. They are usually dominated by small firms. Identifying a dearth of academic
and practitioner work, this paper helps explain how institutions within a small-firm sector and
interactions of these firms with institutions influence the occurrence or non-occurrence of LT
innovation. Marble sector firms primarily located in north-west Pakistan have been selected for this
purpose. Advocating the need for critical realism that has been an often ignored paradigm in
management research, this paper offers a unique perspective on the paradigm’s fundamental
tenets which are events, objects, mechanisms and causal powers through an extensive and robust
qualitative analysis using case study methodology. Findings reveal strong normative and cognitive
institutions but weak regulative institutions with varying levels of consistencies or otherwise in
terms of small firms’ interactions with these institutions. Interestingly, cognitive institutions emerge
as the main barrier to LT innovation which is a key contribution of this paper along with a hard to
find critical realist perspective.
Muhammad Nouman, Mohammad Sohail Yunis, Owais Mufti. (2019) Small Firms, Institutions and Interactions: Low-Technology Innovations from the Perspective of Critical Realism, Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences, Volume-12, Issue-1.
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