Food, health and isomorphism in the accounting system of the storehouse of the society of the workers of Pinerolo

Considering the study by Souriraris et al. (2012), who introduced new concepts of isomorphism that apply to subunits in dual uncoordinated environments, this study investigates the accounting system adopted in the late nineteenth century by a subunit in dual environments: the storehouse of the society of workers of the town of Pinerolo, an example of a consumer cooperative formed within a mutual aid society. Because these storehouses had to manage two environments—their parent organization pursuing a welfare purpose and the consumer cooperatives industry—they were exposed to two different sources of isomorphic pressures. Unexpectedly, the analysis highlighted that the storehouse’s accounting system converged to neither the typical model of its industry nor the one adopted by its parent organization. Instead, the system chose a customized model. This finding questions the concept of endoisomorphism and exoisomorphism when the institutional environments are not coordinated and allows the perception that the degree of coordination between the two institutional environments is not neutral in the definition of the focus of a subunit's isomorphism.