A Patchwork of Identities: Emergence of Charter Schools as a New Organizational Form

This paper examines the emergence of an organizational form, charter schools, in Oakland, California. It links field-level logics to organizational founding identities using topic modeling. It finds corporate and community founding actors create distinct and consistent identities, whereas more peripheral founders indulge in more unique identity construction. It sees the settlement of the form into a stable ecosystem with multiple identity codes rather than driving toward a single organizational identity. The variety of identities that emerge do not always map onto field-level logics. This has implications for the conditions under which organizational innovation and experimentation within a new form may develop.