A PEOPLED VIEW OF INSTITUTIONAL WORK: THE EMERGENCE OF COMMERCIAL MICROFINANCE IN BOLIVIA.

The article identifies several actors who acted strategically to steer the emergence of commercial microfinance, using the emergence of commercial microfinance in Bolivia in the 1990s as an example. A microsociological understanding of institutional work is considered. It is argued that connections with other actors influence individuals' decision making because they provide them with access to resources and information, and because they shape their motivations. The roles of trust, social distance and occupational status competition as relational motivators on actors' decision to engage in institutional work is also explored.