Strategic Ignorance: A Research Overview

Meghan van Portfliet and Mahaut Fanchini ()
Additional contact information
Mahaut Fanchini: IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12, ESTIA - ESTIA - Institute of technology

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This book develops a comprehensive theory of strategic ignorance in organizations, showing how not-knowing is actively produced, distributed, and maintained as a resource that shapes decision-making. Readers will gain a rigorous conceptual toolkit for identifying ignorance as a structured phenomenon rather than an unfortunate absence of knowledge. The book equips them to diagnose why this ignorance persists, and how it serves particular interests. It offers a novel framework that integrates organizational theory alongside concrete analytical dimensions that can be applied across empirical settings. Through carefully developed concepts, illustrative cases, and a structured set of research questions, the book enables readers to move from recognizing instances of ignorance to systematically interrogating their production and effects. It also advances methodological guidance for studying ignorance, making visible dynamics that often remain obscured in conventional analyses of knowledge and decision-making. This book is intended for scholars and advanced students in organization studies, management, sociology, and political economy, as well as researchers interested in knowledge, power, and institutions. It also speaks to practitioners who seek to better understand the role of ignorance in shaping organizational outcomes and public life.

Keywords: ignorance; strategic ignorance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-08-17
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Taylor & Francis. Routledge, 1, 2026, ⟨10.4324/9781003599463⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05737519

DOI: 10.4324/9781003599463

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().