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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
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:
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