The U-shaped effect of logic multiplicity on organizational performance: Evidence from the US healthcare industry

We investigate the effect of logic multiplicity on organizational performance and hypothesize that logics may impact performance in view of their sheer number. We further propose that the market logic embedded in the for-profit legal form can positively moderate the impact of multiple logics on performance. To explore this empirically, we gathered panel data for 336 California general acute care hospitals whose performance can be broadly identified as their ability to provide quality healthcare and measured via their risk-adjusted death rates. The study confirms our hypotheses and suggests that, once the heterogeneous nature of logics is accounted for, their sheer number plays a role in explaining the residual variance, because increasing means-related logic multiplicity may reshape the way logics interact and ultimately impact performance. We contribute to the literature on institutional logics by providing a view of logics multiplicity instrumental to the improvement of organizational performance.