Institutionalization in cultural industries

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to more closely examine the relationship between traditional cultural practices and the commercial products that are derived from and inspired by them. Existing institutional approaches to the cultural industries have been limited in their scope and empirical focus. This paper seeks to correct those oversights. Design/methodology/approach - The paper utilizes a focused historical case study of traditional Irish music, drawing from the myriad resources on the subject housed in the Boston College Irish Music Collection. Findings - A unique and parallel production system in traditional Irish music was identified – a symbiotic and mutually reinforcing relationship between traditional social practices and derivative commercial products that has not yet been articulated within institutional approaches to the cultural industries. Research limitations/implications - By applying DiMaggio and Powell's totality of relevant actors criterion in organizational fields the authors identify and describe the significant contributions of a class of social actors, who have been been marginalized in research on cultural industries. Practical implications - The research has implications for practitioners in cultural industries – whether social entrepreneurs who wish to preserve or propagate traditional social practices or commercial entrepreneurs who wish to profit from them. The paper describes a symbiotic and sustainable relationship between these two classes of social actors and models a type of social entrepreneurship that can potentially be applied in other contexts. Originality/value - Both empirically and conceptually, the paper offers fresh insights into cultural industries and institutional theory.