In despite of an impressive accumulation of studies focusing on the importance of informal groups during the last decades, most of the work were limited to the influence of inter-organizational networks on competitiveness and on firms ability to promote organizational change. This article endorses the claim that informal groups are social reproductions of the context in which they are embedded. Therefore their influence power must be investigated under a broader and interdisciplinary perspective, where the object could be analyzed from both an inter and intra-organizational standpoint. For that purpose, this article attempts to undertake a critical reflection on the "fraternities" phenomenon: informal groups that emerged in organizations based on values socially built and shared. The major theoretical question is to understand the nature of the values and rationalities shared among its participants, what power resources they have available and how they use them to achieve their objectives. An analytical model is proposed to explain the dynamics of the rising and legitimation of the "fraternities", built upon concepts emerged from the most recent debate in Institutional Theory.
power; social networks; institutional theory; institutional fields; legitimation
