Draft:Theory of Institutional Role Models (IRM)
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The Institutional Role Model (IRM) is a theoretical framework used to analyze and design governance and coordination structures in complex institutional and economic systems. Rather than focusing on organizations or technical components, the model emphasizes institutional roles and their structured interactions, particularly in multi-actor and cooperative contexts.
Concept and Purpose
The Institutional Role Model addresses coordination problems that arise in complex systems involving multiple institutions such as firms, public authorities, research organizations, and intermediaries. The framework aims to reduce uncertainty and complexity by systematically distinguishing roles, responsibilities, and interaction patterns across organizational boundaries.
The model is applied in contexts where traditional organization-centric or component-based approaches are insufficient to capture dynamic governance arrangements.
Theoretical Background
The IRM is conceptually related to research in institutional economics, governance theory, organizational studies, and systems theory. It builds on the idea that institutions function through role configurations rather than fixed organizational structures, and that governance outcomes depend on how roles interact under varying incentive and regulatory conditions.
In later work, system-dynamic perspectives have been incorporated to analyze temporal changes and feedback effects in institutional role constellations.
Development
The conceptual foundations of the Institutional Role Model were introduced in the early 2010s in the context of research on non-discriminatory cooperation and institutional coordination. Early applications focused on cooperative transport systems and the challenges of introducing multi-actor technological infrastructures.
Subsequent publications expanded the model’s theoretical scope and refined its analytical structure. From the 2020s onward, the IRM has been applied to broader organizational and economic contexts, including digital platforms and data-driven ecosystems.
IRM Matrix
The IRM Matrix is a graphical representation associated with the Institutional Role Model. It is used to map institutional roles against phases of development, market structures, or functional responsibilities, allowing comparative analysis of role configurations and interaction intensities.
In applied research contexts, the IRM Matrix has been used to support the design and analysis of economic system architectures in federated data ecosystems, particularly in large-scale European research initiatives addressing mobility and data governance.
Subsequent work has further elaborated the IRM Matrix as an instrument for analyzing economic system architectures in cooperative and complex environments. In this context, the matrix has been discussed as a means to structure institutional roles and coordination mechanisms in technology-driven systems.[1]
The matrix is often used to support structured scenario analysis in contexts where institutional responsibilities and interaction logics must be assessed across multiple variants.
Reception
The Institutional Role Model has been discussed and applied in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and conference proceedings related to sustainable development, organizational research, and the digital economy. The framework has also been referenced in studies addressing complexity reduction and institutional coordination in technology-driven systems.
The model has been further developed in the context of system-dynamic governance analysis.[2]
Earlier applications addressed cooperative transport systems and institutional coordination.[3]
The Institutional Role Model has also been applied to product development and time-to-market challenges in automotive and microsystems engineering contexts.[4]
External link
https://www.zu.de/lehrstuehle/cfm/institutional-role-model.php
References
[edit]- ^ Kleis, H. (2024). Tech Tides: Steering Through Cooperative Complexities with the Institutional Role Model as an Economic System Architecture. International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning, 19(8).
- ^ Schulz, W. H., & Franck, O. (2022). The Institutional Role Model: A System-Dynamic Approach to Reduce Complexity. International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning, 17(2).
- ^ Schulz, W. H., Joisten, N., & Mainka, M. (2013). Entwicklung eines Konzeptes für institutionelle Rollenmodelle als Beitrag zur Einführung kooperativer Systeme im Straßenverkehr. BASt research study.
- ^ Schulz, W. H., & Müller, M. (2016). Time to Market—Enabling the Specific Efficiency and Cooperation in Product Development by the Institutional Role Model. In Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications 2016: Smart Systems for the Automobil.
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