From Fleeting Enchantment to Embodied Commitment: How Bottom-up Momentum can Emerge and Persist

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Accounts of momentum in organization studies suggest that the success and sustainability of change efforts depend on the extent to which such efforts gain the commitment of actors to pursuing a new path. Research has revealed that the emergence and attainment of sustainable momentum involves a dynamic and complex process of social interactions and communication patterns. Yet, prior conceptualizations have focused mainly on empirically mapping momentum in the context of planned, top-down driven change. In this paper I mobilize a communicative constitutive view of organization to elaborate a concept of momentum from the bottom up and beyond strategic intervention. Grounded in a qualitative study of a medical technology company, I show how new modes of organizing introduced by the case firm’s management initially induced short-term momentum that subsequently plateaued and gave way to ambiguity and critical evaluation concerning the initiative. Momentum only recurred as certain actors started attaching their own meanings to the idea and began developing an embodied sense of commitment to the new modes of organizing. My analysis contributes to the theorization of momentum in organization studies by highlighting the role of embodied commitment in perpetuating momentum, especially from the bottom up. The study emphasizes the role of new meanings emerging from individual interpretations that can shift momentum away from an intended path.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAcademy of Management Proceedings
Volume2024
Issue number1
Number of pages1
ISSN0065-0668
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.08.2024

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