{"title":"Material Agency in Discursive Strategizing – The Study of a Software Company Seeking Global Growth","authors":"Jenni Myllykoski, Anniina Rantakari","doi":"10.1177/10564926231207304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231207304","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how the product evokes agency in discursive strategizing. Rather than solely being outcomes of strategizing, products also play a role in the initial formation of strategy, which eventually may both hinder and promote strategic renewal. Theoretically, we draw from ideas of posthumanist performativity, which considers discourse and materiality as inseparable and allows us to elucidate the ways in which materiality evokes agency in managers’ discursive strategizing. Empirically, we conducted a longitudinal real-time study by participating in a software company's strategizing meetings for 2 years. Our findings reveal two forms of material agency evoked by the company product during discursive strategizing: indwelling and outdwelling agency. Indwelling agency manifests when the product's logic starts to frame the scope of strategy discourse. Outdwelling agency manifests when the product attracts unexpected customers, which later alters managers’ strategic scope. These findings enrich the understanding of the contribution of materiality to strategic outcomes.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136079453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Truth and the Science of Management: Does the “Emperor” Still Have Any Clothes?","authors":"Thomas A. Wright","doi":"10.1177/10564926231203518","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231203518","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars have increasingly argued for the merits of advocacy-based research versus research considered from the pursuit of objective truth. In this essay, I seek to extend Tsang's Journal of Management Inquiry essay (2022) and suggest that political advocacy has replaced the pursuit of objective truth in management research. Through the use of example, I suggest that this focus on politically based advocacy will be detrimental to the continued professional development of the management discipline.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135346166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas A. Wright, Kyle Emich, Jone L. Pearce, Stratos Ramoglou, Neal Ashkanasy, Jean M. Bartunek, Sven Kunisch, David Denyer, Nicolai J. Foss, Peter G. Klein, Sophia Town, John Hollwitz, Chet E. Barney, Peter Harms, Timothy P. Munyon, Gerard Seijts, Eric W.K. Tsang
{"title":"Advocacy and the Search for Truth in Management Scholarship: Can the Twain Ever Meet?","authors":"Thomas A. Wright, Kyle Emich, Jone L. Pearce, Stratos Ramoglou, Neal Ashkanasy, Jean M. Bartunek, Sven Kunisch, David Denyer, Nicolai J. Foss, Peter G. Klein, Sophia Town, John Hollwitz, Chet E. Barney, Peter Harms, Timothy P. Munyon, Gerard Seijts, Eric W.K. Tsang","doi":"10.1177/10564926231203522","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231203522","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars have long debated the merits of advocacy-based research versus research considered from the quest for objective truth. Building upon reflections from multiple sources, a set of 11 brief reflections on three posed questions are presented. Tsang concludes our discussion with additional insights on how moving beyond the “interestingness” advocacy will be beneficial to the continued professional development of the management discipline.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135739374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Paradoxical Tensions as a Double-Edged Sword: Analysing the Development of Platform Cooperatives in the European Gig Economy","authors":"Damion J. Bunders, Tine De Moor","doi":"10.1177/10564926231202422","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231202422","url":null,"abstract":"Platform cooperatives promise to provide an alternative organizational model of worker ownership and governance to heavily criticized investor-owned gig platforms, but have until now remained relatively rare. This study examines the development of platform co-ops to gain insight into the reasons and mechanisms behind their slow but steady growth in Europe. Using desk research on 48 platform co-ops and 16 in-depth interviews with founders of platform co-ops, we build on paradox theorizing to analyze how founders of platform co-ops manage competing demands during the start-up phase. Extending recent studies on interorganizational paradoxes, we show how systemic tensions in the gig economy motivate the creation of platform co-ops as a way of coping and that interactions between tensions on different levels during actual development can result in failed market entry. Hence, this study also addresses the counter-intuitiveness to the establishment of organizations permeated with paradoxical tensions.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135385688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Payal N. Sharma, Madeline Toubiana, Kisha Lashley, Felipe Massa, Kristie M. Rogers, Trish Ruebottom
{"title":"Honing the Craft of Qualitative Data Collection in Extreme Contexts","authors":"Payal N. Sharma, Madeline Toubiana, Kisha Lashley, Felipe Massa, Kristie M. Rogers, Trish Ruebottom","doi":"10.1177/10564926231194271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231194271","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past several years, there has been ongoing dialog within our academic journals and the profession regarding the value of examining extreme, unconventional, or unsettling contexts in management research. These conversations have highlighted that perhaps more than ever, we as a society are facing unprecedented grand and perplexing challenges, and conducting research in unconventional or extreme settings can reveal complex dynamics or relationships that we may not understand otherwise. Less discussed, however, are methodological considerations for conducting research in unique contexts. As such, we aim to extend the explicit discussion of effective strategies for scholars who consider the perspectives and workplace realities of unusual or unconventional populations. We bring together a collection of reflective essays rooted in the authors’ experiences of collecting data from extreme contexts or unusual samples. We highlight how these rich experiences in the field required the authors to modify or extend methodological conventions with the goal of guiding scholars pursuing research in similarly unconventional contexts.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45317536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conceptualising Silence in External Corporate Communication: A Case Study of Pakistan","authors":"F. Yusuf, A. Yousaf, M. Ishaque, W. Umrani","doi":"10.1177/10564926231194297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231194297","url":null,"abstract":"Although existing research has extensively explored corporate disclosure, a very little is known about why corporate organisations may remain silent while communicating with their external audiences. This study offers a definition of corporate silence and develops a conceptual framework for the study of silence in the narrative communication of corporate organisations. We develop a typology based on the forms and motivations for corporate silence in written corporate documents. Data was gathered from 26 interviews with senior managers from regulatory bodies, audit firms and listed companies in Pakistan and a grounded theory approach was used for data analysis. We postulate that self-protection from fear and discomfort, cooperation, managerial opportunism, apathy, and resistance are the prime motivators of corporate silence. The analysis also leads to the development of five different forms of silence: (1) defensive; (2) prosocial; (3) opportunistic; (4) authoritative; and (5) counteractive.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45195047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Who Do They Think We Are? Reflexivity and Participant Constructions of the Researcher","authors":"Alison I. Rostron","doi":"10.1177/10564926231193374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231193374","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses an underexplored issue within management and organizational studies researcher reflexivity, namely how participants perceive and construct the researcher. However, reflexivity which includes how our participants see us is necessary for a more complete understanding of the research process and ourselves as researchers, and for how participants choose to talk about themselves and their practice. I therefore present a novel method for reanalyzing research data to construct a version of myself-as-researcher from the talk and responses to me of my manager participants, addressing the question: “to whom were my participants speaking?” which identifies multiple constructions of the researcher as auditor, consultant, and therapist. I extend the literature on the researcher–participant relationship by highlighting the role of emotion and uncertainty of managers in making sense of the research occasion, and I add to the suite of tools available to researchers to review and reflect on their research practice.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45221460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Organizing Creativity With Constraints—Insights From Popular Music Songwriting Teams","authors":"Tobias Theel, J. Sydow","doi":"10.1177/10564926231191087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231191087","url":null,"abstract":"Creative processes within and across organizations have not only been associated with freedom but also with constraints. By taking a dialectical process perspective, we examine how creatives actually engage with constraints and how constraints thereby emerge, unfold and terminate over time. Based on ethnographic observations and interviews with popular music songwriting teams, we found that collaborators do not simply experience but also actively utilize constraints. Doing so enables songwriters to process constraints and to organize for an oscillation between stable, generative, and flexible constraint characterizations, fueling the creative process. Notwithstanding the persistent nature of some structural constraints, these findings contribute to research on organizing creativity by conceptualizing constraints as intertwined, malleable and even transformable by actors as they unfold. Thereby, the findings extend the current understanding of creativity with constraints by pointing to the crucial role of certain constraint characterizations that need to alternate procedurally between stability and fluidity.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48240225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Lambrechts, Ruveyda Kelleci, Wim Voordeckers, Jolien Huybrechts
{"title":"Family Owner–Nonfamily CEO Relational Practices Shaping CEO Succession: Handling Equivocality and Relational Balancing","authors":"F. Lambrechts, Ruveyda Kelleci, Wim Voordeckers, Jolien Huybrechts","doi":"10.1177/10564926231191081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231191081","url":null,"abstract":"This study focuses on family owner–nonfamily CEO relational practices and what these relational practices constrain and potentiate in family firm CEO succession. Our main contribution is developing a constructionist relational practice perspective and approach as an alternative to the entitative view that dominates the family business literature. We illustrate the relational practice perspective through our dialogically structured inquiries with family owners and nonfamily CEOs. We co-develop practical wisdom on how family owner–nonfamily CEO relational practices can construct stuckness in organizing or, conversely, open up new possibilities to go on depending on (i) the way the family owner and nonfamily CEO “handle” equivocality and tension they continuously (re)produce through their relational practices and (ii) the way they enact “relational balancing” to equilibrate their relation in the making in terms of value/self-worth maintenance by involving other actors, such as board members, management team members, or a coach.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45075333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taboo Trade-Offs in the Community Business: The Case of Coworking","authors":"Will M. Bennis, Marko Orel","doi":"10.1177/10564926231187292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926231187292","url":null,"abstract":"The past 15 years has seen the rise of businesses that seek to sell community as a service. Relational Models Theory provides a compelling theoretical framework that suggests the prospect of selling or buying community may be prone to evoking cognitive, affective, and behavioral aversion among both sides in the exchange. This paper considers the coworking industry—a paradigmatic example of a business that promises to sell community—through the lens of Relational Models Theory. We use our personal experience as coworking space owners and community managers to explore challenges and conflicts that we, other community managers, and our members have encountered that may be inherent to trying to buy and sell community. Finally, we suggest tentative solutions to those challenges.","PeriodicalId":47877,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Management Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45420789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}