Dynamics of wilful ignorance in organizations
Alvesson, M. ORCID: 0000-0001-8709-4684, Einola, K. & Schaefer, S. M. (2022). Dynamics of wilful ignorance in organizations. The British Journal of Sociology, 73(4), pp. 839-858. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12963
Abstract
Contemporary society is obsessed with knowledge, leaving its less seductive counterpart, ignorance, in the shadows. However, as an expanding literature suggests, it is equally important to understand ignorance and consider its varieties. This study specifies the nature of wilful ignorance in organizations. It does so by (a) making a distinction between the will of an actor and the epistemic properties of ignorance, and showing how these two form a dynamic relationship, (b) linking wilful ignorance to its various drivers and (c) suggesting how our concept of wilful ignorance can be used in the study of organizations. Rather than reducing the phenomenon into a simple to know/to ignore dichotomy, we concentrate on its processual and dynamic nature. Moreover, we explore the complexities and ambiguity inherently involved in all knowing and ignoring as well as the role of agency in reducing the harmful effects of wilful ignorance in organizations.
Publication Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
Publisher Keywords: | ignorance, knowledge, organizational dynamics, organizational processes, organizations, wilful ignorance |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
Departments: | Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management |
SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
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