Believe it or not: Dealing with Institutional Complexity given Organizational Preferences

In a 24-months long case study we examine the formation of the first Islamic Bank in Germany. We offer three theoretical contributions. First, we show that an organization can be not only institutionally compliant but also committed towards institutional demands. Second, given institutional compliance and commitment, we identify four combinatory mechanisms: clarifying, pulling, pushing, and tolerating. Third, we order these mechanisms into a cascade model along organizational preferences given the criteria of institutional compatibility, commitment and convenience.