
Mats Alvesson
Professor

Explaining Ignoring – Working with Information that Nobody Uses
Author
Summary, in English
Research has demonstrated how ignorance is made, manipulated and called upon; how it is the result of strategies, activities and structures. This article extends the literature on ignorance by exploring actors’ own explanations of their self-inflicted ignorance following acts of ignoring. By means of a case analysis, we explore how actors explain and justify ignoring data they themselves produced. We provide a multifaceted model of how ignoring actors’ own rationales, facilitated by contextual conditions, enables persistent acts of ignoring the content and dysfunction of collectively upheld systems. We contribute to the understanding of ignorance by demonstrating how self-inflicted ignorance is made possible by the combination of ignoring rationales and their facilitators, which configures buffers against knowledge-seeking efforts.
Department/s
- Organizational Studies
Publishing year
2022
Language
English
Pages
725-747
Publication/Series
Organization Studies
Volume
43
Issue
5
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- division of labour
- functional stupidity
- healthcare
- image
- information management
- knowledge management
- professionalism
- strategic ignorance
- wilful ignorance
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0170-8406