Of Two Minds: Making Sense of Hybrid Organizing

Abstract

In recent years, hybrid organizations have attracted increasing attention from scholars interested in how these organizations navigate the challenges associated with competing identities and/or goals. This work has greatly deepened our understanding of an increasingly common organizational form, but many questions remain unanswered. Many of these questions are related to the dynamics of hybrid organizing – in particular, how hybrid organizations and their members make sense of hybridization. The five papers in this symposium develop theoretical insights about these dynamics through inductive, qualitative studies. Drawing on the case of a battery company with dual commercial and religious identities, the first paper considers how multifaceted elements of individual identity shape if and how members identify with their organization's hybrid identity. The second paper also considers the multifaceted nature of individual identity. Examining the context of impact investing, it suggests individuals' prior exper...