(Un)Mind the gap: How organizational actors cope with an identity–strategy misalignment

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Matthias Wenzel
  • Joep P. Cornelissen
  • Jochen Koch
  • Michael Hartmann
  • Madeleine Rauch

In this article, we explore how organizational actors cope with a perceived misalignment between their organization’s identity and strategy. Based on an inductive, interpretive case study at a public broadcasting organization, we identify three cognitive tactics through which organizational members cope with an identity–strategy misalignment: contextualization, abstraction, and fatalism. Furthermore, we show that the enactment of these cognitive coping tactics coincides with specific strategy-related tasks that prioritize different aspects of an organization’s identity and, therefore, invokes different conceptions of the identity–strategy misalignment. Based on these findings, we develop a framework that conceptualizes how organizational members cope with an identity–strategy misalignment. We end the article by discussing the implications of our study for further research on the linkages between organizational identity and strategy.

Original languageEnglish
JournalStrategic Organization
Volume18
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)212-244
Number of pages33
ISSN1476-1270
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Special Issue: Exploring the Strategy-Identity Nexus

    Research areas

  • Management studies - cognitive tactics, coping, misalignment, organizational identity, strategy

DOI

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