Transformations in the organization of banking : the effects of government policy, 1977-1998

Abstract

This study examines the capacity o f four theories o f organizational change - resource dependence, transaction cost economics, organizational ecology, and institutional — to explain transformations in the organization o f banking between the years 1977 and 1998. 1 use discrete time event history analysis to examine the impact o f both organizational variables and political-economic variables on organizational change in banking, specifically bank merger and change in the corporate form o f banks. In examining the impact o f political-economic variables, I pay particular attention to the policy environment o f the banking industry. I conceptualize four policy environments: 1977- 1980, when banking was regulated under the structure instituted during the Great Depression; 1980-1988, when banking was deregulated; 1989-1993, when some aspects o f banking were reregulated; and 1994-1998, when banking was once again deregulated. This study indicates that historical conditions shape the factors that affect organizational change in banking and that, although each of the theories receives some support, resource dependence theory receives the strongest support across the analyses and across historical conditions. Reproduced