Transformational Hybridity: Shape, Shake, and Shift Up for Societal Grand Challenges

Abstract

There is wide agreement about the potential for hybridity – the combination of plural organizational forms – to address complex societal grand challenges. Unfortunately, advancements in this area have been unduly constrained by the fragmentation of research along the organizational unit of analysis. This Special Issue advances research by offering a framework that bridges hybridity research across the organizational, inter-organizational, and societal levels of analysis. We introduce a framework of transformational hybridity based on three interlinked mechanisms that drive societal transformation across different levels – Shape up!, Shake up!, and Shift up! Shape up! involves changes in organizational and inter-organizational hybridity practices. In turn, Shake up! involves changes in hybridity boundaries through organizational and inter-organizational arrangements. Through interplay, these two mechanisms may bring about Shift up!, a societal transformation that addresses a grand challenge. Taken together, this Special Issue paves the road for novel research directions and equips scholars and practitioners alike with a multi-level lens for tackling societal grand challenges through transformational hybridity.