This study pits traditional rational-choice economics against “new institutionalist” theory in an effort to explain managers’ adoption of new, reader-oriented online features, such as most popular story lists, reader video, blogs and sites that target subcommunities. According to new institutional theory, organizations pursue innovations in order to appear legitimate and to conform with other organizations in their environment. It is proposed here that news organizations are both institutional and financially strategic. Findings from a content analysis of newspaper Web sites revealed evidence of mimicry of other organizations, but also the importance of financial predictors.
This study pits traditional rational-choice economics against “new institutionalist” theory in an effort to explain managers’ adoption of new, reader-oriented online features, such as most popular story lists, reader video, blogs and sites that target subcommunities.