Societal Differences Redux. A Comparison of Organizational Structures and HRM in French, German, and Italian Manufacturing Units

After Maurice, Sorge, and Warner published in Organization Studies, 1/1, 1980 their work on societal differences in organizing manufacturing units in France West Germany and Great Britain, we have extended, replicated and confirmed the validity of their conclusions: the enduring relevance of nationally divergent manufacturing cultures, the meaninglessness of the analytical distinction between the organization and its environment, the key mediating role between context and structure of occupational and professional knowledge and identities, and the need to connect levels of analysis. Considering thirty additional years of globalization and Europeanization, and the belonging to the same corporation of all six units we compared in France, Germany and Italy, our positive test of the Societal Effect Approach (SEA) strongly underscores the continuing need to carefully balance generalization and specificity in organizational theory. After assessing the mixed fortune of Maurice and colleagues’ work through the analysis of 248 citations in Google Scholar, we propose how their mostly ceremonially cited seminal piece could contribute to push forward research in contemporary institutionalism by more closely attending to its methodology and conceptualizations.