This essay explores the contemporary rise of the ‘indicatocracy’, a new type of organization which has become pervasive in professional organizational fields such as business schools, universities, or hospitals. As a neologism combining the concepts of ‘bureaucracy’ and ‘indicators’, we define ‘indicatocracy’ as a specific organizational arrangement that operates at the level of an organizational field, spanning multiple professional organizations, through the disciplinary power of indicators. Building on the literature on business school transformations over the last decades, we develop propositions on the emergence and impacts of indicatocracies. We reveal their main disciplinary effects and show how they transform professional organizations by reshaping internal and external power structures, work and professional identities through increased managerial control and field-level mechanisms. The conclusion of this essay proposes a research agenda to stimulate future research on indicatocracies.
