Through a nine-month ethnography in an advertising agency in Iran, a deeply conservative society, we explore the microprocesses through which actors search for and exploit areas of institutional plasticity toward incremental change. Given the infeasibility of more significant change in a highly institutionalized arrangement, actors in these settings are likely to seek out institutions characterized by the highest degree of plasticity. Yet, extant institutional research has not yet addressed the question of how they may go about doing so, which is what we seek to do in this paper. By studying how celebrity endorsement became more normative in the field of advertising despite initial resistance from Iranian government regulators, we make four contributions to institutional literature. First, we demonstrate how institutional plasticity can serve as an antecedent to incremental institutional change in highly institutionalized contexts. Second, we trace the source of institutional plasticity to a misalignment between institutional pillars. Third, we identify the tactics and strategies that challengers use in the process of sensing institutional plasticity and stretching institutional boundaries. Finally, we shed light on the use of material and discursive resources across different stages of negotiations over incremental movements in the boundaries of normativity within a highly institutionalized setting.

通过在伊朗一个非常保守的社会的广告代理商中进行的为期9个月的人种志研究，我们探索了参与者寻找和利用机构可塑性领域进行渐进式变革的微观过程。鉴于在高度制度化的安排中不可能进行重大变革的可能性，这些环境中的参与者很可能会寻求具有最高可塑性的机构。然而，现存的机构研究尚未解决他们如何去做的问题，这就是我们在本文中试图做到的。通过研究名人代言如何在广告领域变得更加规范，尽管伊朗政府监管机构最初对此表示反对，我们为机构文献做出了四点贡献。第一的，我们证明了在高度制度化的背景下，制度可塑性如何可以作为渐进式制度变革的先决条件。第二，我们将制度可塑性的根源追溯到制度支柱之间的错位。第三，我们确定挑战者在感知制度可塑性和扩大制度边界的过程中使用的策略和策略。最后，我们阐明了在高度制度化的环境中，在规范性边界内的渐进式运动中，在谈判的不同阶段使用的物质和话语资源。我们确定了挑战者在感知制度可塑性和扩大制度边界的过程中使用的策略和策略。最后，我们阐明了在高度制度化的环境中，在规范性边界内的增量运动中，在谈判的不同阶段使用物质和话语资源的情况。我们确定了挑战者在感知制度可塑性和扩大制度边界的过程中使用的策略和策略。最后，我们阐明了在高度制度化的环境中，在规范性边界内的渐进式运动中，在谈判的不同阶段使用的物质和话语资源。