Unraveling the Theoretical Traditions in the Field of Strategy-as- Practice

Abstract

Strategy-as-practice (SAP) has become one of the most vibrant areas of contemporary strategy research in the past two decades. As the field has grown significantly, we have witnessed an emergence of various streams of research within the SAP research community. The present study uses data from 311 SAP articles to conduct a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review for the identified clusters. This study contributes to the SAP literature by recognizing its constitutive streams of research (clusters) and their characteristic features, identifying the various tensions emerging between them, as well as elucidating the research opportunities evolving from these tensions as well as from within the clusters themselves. By clustering studies cited in SAP research, we identify five clusters of SAP research and additionally a set of connections of SAP research: 1) social practice, 2) the sensemaking approach, 3) discursive perspectives, 4) sociomaterial practices 5) practice- driven institutionalism, and 6) connections of SAP with other fields of research. Building on our review of the identified clusters, we observe four key tensions between them, process vs. practice, practical vs. critical, micro vs. macro, and sociomaterial vs. discursive. We propose that addressing these four tensions provides a fertile agenda for future research in the field.