TY - JOUR

T1 - (Un)Mind the gap

T2 - How organizational actors cope with an identity–strategy misalignment

AU - Wenzel, Matthias

AU - Cornelissen, Joep P.

AU - Koch, Jochen

AU - Hartmann, Michael

AU - Rauch, Madeleine

N1 - Special Issue: Exploring the Strategy-Identity Nexus

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Management studies

KW - cognitive tactics

KW - coping

KW - misalignment

KW - organizational identity

KW - strategy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068204765&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1476127019856524

DO - 10.1177/1476127019856524

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85068204765

VL - 18

SP - 212

EP - 244

JO - Strategic Organization

JF - Strategic Organization

SN - 1476-1270

IS - 1

ER -