State-led institutional entrepreneurship in the Swachh Bharat Mission: a thematic analysis of sanitation behavioral transformation in India, 2014-2019

Purpose This paper aims to address the research question: How did the State transform sanitation behavior in India within five years? It examines the Swachh Bharat Mission, India’s national sanitation campaign (2014–2019), as a case of systemic behavioral transformation. The analysis adopts an interdisciplinary lens spanning institutional theory, institutional entrepreneurship, public policy and management history to explain how the state orchestrated and sustained large-scale behavioral change within a tightly bounded timeframe. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a critical realist orientation, integrating abductive and retroductive modes of reasoning and interpretation. A case study design is used, drawing on 104 documents (67 peer-reviewed articles and 37 primary sources). A theory-informed thematic dictionary was developed across five domains – entrepreneurship, logic, isomorphism, community engagement and governance – and applied to the source materials to unearth the interrelated processes underlying a nation’s sanitation behavioral transformation. Findings The study identifies five interrelated processes of institutional entrepreneurship, institutional logic, institutional isomorphism, community engagement and institutional governance that provide insights into the behavioral transformation of a nation impacting 550 million people and led to the construction of nearly 110 million toilets within five years. Research limitations/implications This study draws on primary and secondary sources from a single country and a bounded time period. Future research can extend this work through direct observation and longitudinal tracking, comparing state-led reforms across diverse historical, geographical, political and cultural contexts. Multimethod designs – particularly valuable in resource-constrained environments – can advance understanding into how institutional entrepreneurship unfolds and how behavioral change becomes embedded over time. Practical implications The findings offer actionable lessons for policymakers: empower leaders to act as institutional entrepreneurs; craft compelling change narratives; allocate resources strategically; build operational programs that translate vision into practice; align incentives with systemic goals; integrate top-down leadership with grassroots mobilization; and embed accountability cultures and governance mechanisms that dismantle entrenched practices and institutionalize new norms to drive behavioral change at scale. Social implications This study demonstrates how government-led initiatives can evolve into nationwide social movements, reshaping public norms, transforming behaviors and improving health, dignity and civic engagement within a tightly bounded timeframe. Originality/value This paper contributes to management history by demonstrating how temporal reasoning, sequencing and historical causation shape state-led institutional entrepreneurship. It advances institutional theory, including institutional entrepreneurship, beyond firm-level contexts to large-scale, state-driven public-policy initiatives and reforms that reconcile stability with disruption within a bounded timeframe. The five interrelated processes identified in this study offer a granular understanding of how government can act as an institutional entrepreneur to achieve systemic change.