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The hegemonic ambiguity of big concepts in organisation studies

Alvesson, Mats LU and Blom, Martin LU orcid (2022) In Human Relations 75(1). p.58-86
Abstract
The use of concepts is a vital part of the research process. Many researchers overexploit popular concepts by adding more and more vague and poorly defined meanings to them, thereby making their boundaries unclear and the concepts increasingly unwieldy. We will refer to these types of concepts as hembigs – an acronym for hegemonic, ambiguous, big concepts. The article demonstrates the problem in three domains: leadership, strategy and institution. It suggests ways to mitigate the problems with dominant scientific concepts, overloaded with more or less incoherent meanings.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
institutional theory, leadership, method, organization studies, reflexivity, strategy
in
Human Relations
volume
75
issue
1
pages
58 - 86
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85100168475
ISSN
0018-7267
DOI
10.1177/0018726720986847
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0828c3f9-d399-4821-9f69-8a81ad9b548b
date added to LUP
2021-02-10 11:46:54
date last changed
2024-06-14 09:44:17
@article{0828c3f9-d399-4821-9f69-8a81ad9b548b,
  abstract     = {{The use of concepts is a vital part of the research process. Many researchers overexploit popular concepts by adding more and more vague and poorly defined meanings to them, thereby making their boundaries unclear and the concepts increasingly unwieldy. We will refer to these types of concepts as hembigs – an acronym for hegemonic, ambiguous, big concepts. The article demonstrates the problem in three domains: leadership, strategy and institution. It suggests ways to mitigate the problems with dominant scientific concepts, overloaded with more or less incoherent meanings.}},
  author       = {{Alvesson, Mats and Blom, Martin}},
  issn         = {{0018-7267}},
  keywords     = {{institutional theory; leadership; method; organization studies; reflexivity; strategy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{58--86}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Human Relations}},
  title        = {{The hegemonic ambiguity of big concepts in organisation studies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726720986847}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0018726720986847}},
  volume       = {{75}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}