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Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Mats Alvesson

Professor

Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Explaining Ignoring – Working with Information that Nobody Uses

Author

  • Anna Essén
  • Morten Knudsen
  • Mats Alvesson

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