TY - JOUR

T1 - Making an Impression Through Openness

T2 - How Open Strategy-Making Practices Change in the Evolution of New Ventures

AU - Gegenhuber, Thomas

AU - Dobusch, Leonhard

PY - 2017/6/1

Y1 - 2017/6/1

N2 - While previous open strategy studies have acknowledged open strategy's function as an impression management instrument, their focus has mostly been on short episodes. The impression management literature, meanwhile, pays openness scant attention. By studying how new ventures engage in open strategy-making, we track how open strategy-making and respective impression management benefits evolve over time. Specifically, we draw on a comparative case study of two firms’ blog communication on strategy-related issues and corresponding audience responses over a four-year period. We identify three distinct modes of how organizations engage in open strategy-making with external audiences and show how each mode is related to a specific set of impression management effects. Having established the impression management functions of these modes, we then demonstrate how open strategy-making contributes to new ventures’ quests for legitimacy as they evolve. In the launch phase, dialoguing with blog audiences helps a venture attract endorsements for its organization and products. As the venture grows, concentrating on broadcasting relevant strategic information may attract media audiences’ additional support for pursuing openness as a desirable organizational practice.

AB - While previous open strategy studies have acknowledged open strategy's function as an impression management instrument, their focus has mostly been on short episodes. The impression management literature, meanwhile, pays openness scant attention. By studying how new ventures engage in open strategy-making, we track how open strategy-making and respective impression management benefits evolve over time. Specifically, we draw on a comparative case study of two firms’ blog communication on strategy-related issues and corresponding audience responses over a four-year period. We identify three distinct modes of how organizations engage in open strategy-making with external audiences and show how each mode is related to a specific set of impression management effects. Having established the impression management functions of these modes, we then demonstrate how open strategy-making contributes to new ventures’ quests for legitimacy as they evolve. In the launch phase, dialoguing with blog audiences helps a venture attract endorsements for its organization and products. As the venture grows, concentrating on broadcasting relevant strategic information may attract media audiences’ additional support for pursuing openness as a desirable organizational practice.

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995960297&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7668d63d-78e7-3af3-8ec8-eee519c7d2d2/

U2 - 10.1016/j.lrp.2016.09.001

DO - 10.1016/j.lrp.2016.09.001

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84995960297

VL - 50

SP - 337

EP - 354

JO - Long Range Planning

JF - Long Range Planning

SN - 0024-6301

IS - 3

ER -