Activation of values and anchoring of beliefs: How contextually embedded individuals are inspired by an institutional entrepreneur

This article explores individuals’ motivation to alter workplace behaviour and enact institutional change. Through an exploitative abductive study of the early phases of Vision Zero, a Swedish road safety policy shift, this article uncovers the motivational factors among individuals who, early in the process, enlist support and become involved in efforts to break with existing expectations, norms and regulations despite contextual embeddedness. Drawing on the value-belief-norm theory, the results reveal that activation of personal values and anchoring of personal beliefs are key functions in mobilising the enactment of institutional change. These findings offer insights into individual-level processes for catalysing institutional entrepreneurship and contribute to the literature on value-driven behaviour, providing valuable lessons for policymakers and scholars in institutional entrepreneurship. • Activation and anchoring are key elements for enacting institutional change. • Motivational factors prompt value-based workplace behaviour. • Individual-level frameworks help explain emerging institutional entrepreneurship.