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Sensemaking with Institutional Logics: How Top Managers Drive Strategic Change in Response to Evolving and Diverse Industrial Policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2026

Yang Li  and
Jingjiang Liu Open the ORCID record for Jingjiang Liu [Opens in a new window]
Yang Li
Affiliation:
Hangzhou Dianzi University, China
Jingjiang Liu*
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, China Center for Research on Zhejiang Digital Development and Governance, China
*
Corresponding author: Jingjiang Liu; Email: liujingjiang@zju.edu.cn
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Abstract

This study examines how top managers engage in sensemaking to navigate dynamic and complex industrial policy environments and respond strategically. Based on a longitudinal narrative case study of a privately owned firm in China, we explore how managers interpret evolving policy signals and drive corporate strategic change. We extend sensemaking theory by incorporating an institutional logics perspective to investigate how top managers draw on multiple logics to make sense of policy shifts and craft organizational responses. The study develops a holistic process model that links industrial policy, sensemaking, and strategic change, highlighting the embedded agency of top managers in responding to evolving and diverse institutional pressures. By unpacking the temporal dynamics of sensemaking, we identify how the temporality of sensemaking contributes to heterogeneity in corporate strategic behavior. This research advances understanding of sensemaking as a key process linking shifting policies with firm strategic actions and contributes to the literature on sensemaking, institutional logics, and strategic change.

摘要

摘要

本研究探讨了高层管理者如何通过意义建构应对动态复杂的产业政策环境, 并制定战略性响应。基于对中国一家民营企业的纵向叙事案例研究, 我们探讨了管理者如何解读不断演变的政策信号并推动企业战略变革。本文引入制度逻辑观以扩展意义建构理论, 考察高层管理者如何运用多重逻辑理解政策转变并制定组织响应策略。本研究构建了一个连接产业政策、意义建构与战略变革的整合性过程模型, 凸显高层管理者在应对不断演变且多元的制度压力时所展现的嵌入式能动性。通过剖析意义建构的时序动态, 我们揭示意义建构的时间性如何促成企业战略行为的异质性。本研究深化了对意义建构作为连接政策转变与企业战略行动的关键过程的理解, 并对意义建构、制度逻辑与战略变革相关文献作出贡献。

Keywords

industrial policyinstitutional logicspolicy shiftsensemakingstrategic change产业政策制度逻辑政策转变意义建构战略变革

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Article
Information
Management and Organization Review , First View , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Association for Chinese Management Research.

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