“Devils May Sit Here:” The Role of Enchantment in Institutional Maintenance

This paper contributes to the literature on maintenance of institutions by analyzing the case of an old profession -- Scottish advocates. Drawing on the neo-institutional perspective on professions, we address the question, what role does organizational space play in institutional maintenance? We draw on our ethnographic study to make a three-fold contribution. Firstly, our case study shows how spaces, and how institutional actors interacting with them, have a stabilizing effect on the institution, which leads to two important outcomes: maintenance of closure and reproduction of the status order. Secondly, we show how three spatial phenomena underpinning this stabilizing process are intertwined, thus enabling the process of institutional maintenance: (1) emplacement, (2) enactment of space, and (3) enchantment of space. Thirdly, by foregrounding the role of enchantment evoked by organizational spaces, we highlight the importance of the emotional and aesthetic aspects of institutional maintenance.