In:
Administrative Science Quarterly, SAGE Publications, Vol. 67, No. 2 ( 2022-06), p. 289-338
Abstract:
Many organizations struggle with tackling grand challenges. Research has shown that coordinating and collaborating are central to these endeavors, but the emotions inherent in doing so have been overlooked. From a two-year narrative ethnographic study of an organization tackling the grand challenge of commercial sex exploitation, we build a key theoretical insight about the role of hope culture in the pursuit of grand challenges. We define hope culture as a set of assumptions, beliefs, norms, and practices that propagate hopeful thoughts and behaviors in pursuit of an organization’s goals. We show that when a hope culture is stronger, organizations more vibrantly engage with the grand challenge—the well-being of organizational members flourishes, and organizations ambitiously pursue their goals. When the strength of a hope culture flags, the opposite occurs. Two core mechanisms appear to drive the strength of a hope culture in these contexts: (1) narrative sensemaking of “triggering” organizational events and (2) emotional contagion. Our results demonstrate how hope cultures wax and wane in strength over time, operating as double-edged swords in organizations seeking to tackle grand challenges, with both positive and negative downstream implications. We offer rich, much-needed theory about the emotional realities of tackling grand challenges, as well as necessary guidance on how organizations might hope for a brighter future in the face of adversity.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0001-8392
,
1930-3815
DOI:
10.1177/00018392211055506
Language:
English
Publisher:
SAGE Publications
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2064582-X
SSG:
7,26
SSG:
2
SSG:
3,2
SSG:
3,6
SSG:
3,7
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