The Motivational Power of Ideas in Institutions and Collective Action

Abstract Ideational institutionalism has by now largely established itself as a ‘fourth new institutionalism’. However, while the assertion that ‘ideas matter’ is widely shared, ideational institutionalists are still struggling with the question how ideas matter, especially in motivational terms. The role of ideas not just as switchmen, but as genuine drivers of collective action still lacks theoretical underpinning. This article aims at closing this gap. It elaborates a theoretical model to explain how ideas shift the structure of motivation from the individual to the collective level. Borrowing from motivational psychology and social philosophy, especially from the work of John Searle, two crucial mechanisms are explicated. The first one is imagination, a specific mental state that allows collectivizing the intentional structure of beliefs and affords a sense of self-efficacy in collective contexts. The second one is plural self-awareness, a mechanism that shifts intentions-to-act to the collective level by detaching instentional control from bodily awareness.