Conform and Oppose through Numbers: Quantifying Hybrid Organizations at the International Cooperative Alliance

Abstract

Collectives of hybrid organizations have emerged with the aim of promoting the plural goals and values embodied by their member organizations. Doing so, however, often requires simultaneous conformity and opposition to dominant institutional norms, such as those underlying mainstream market activity. We examine how hybrid collectives navigate this ‘conform‐and‐oppose’ tension as they seek to promote their members' hybrid form through quantification – i.e., the use of numbers to label, count, and describe members. Analyzing the case of the International Cooperative Alliance, we identify four interrelated dimensions (valorization, validity, reactivity, and retroaction) through which a hybrid collective can harness quantification to manage differing commitments to market and social goals and values within and beyond the collective – a process we name formative quantification. Core to this process are two filtering mechanisms – validity searching and values queuing – through which a hybrid collective integrates stakeholder perceptions of truth (validity) and value (valorization) to navigate hybrid tensions. Our work extends theory on hybrid tension management to the inter‐organizational level, while shifting the view of organizational quantification from a tool of conformity‐enhancing evaluation towards a collective search for numbers that both conform to and oppose taken‐for‐granted norms.