The Janus Face of Organizational Knowing

Abstract

This article challenges our current understanding of the role of knowing for organizational participation by discussing how, and under which circumstances, knowing hinders participation instead of fostering it. Drawing upon 18 months of fieldwork at a social impact accelerator, I first show that showing that the knowing emerging from collective practices and interactions generates disengagement among actors. Second, I illuminate the role of the social relations for actors to imbue their experience of new meanings and, third, develop a model of “meaningful reengagement” explaining how they retain their participation beyond the negative implication of knowing for participation. This article advances existing knowing research by bringing to the fore the role of relational patterns for participation, strengthening its relational but underdeveloped ambition, and providing insights for research on business accelerators and practitioners alike.