Shadow Futures: The Persistence of Past-Futures

This paper introduces the concept of shadow futures to examine how imagined futures continue to influence organizational life even after they are no longer actively pursued or openly acknowledged. While much research has explored the lasting impact of the past and the role of imagined futures in present actions, less attention has been paid to futures that have faded, been displaced, or rendered unspeakable. Drawing on a processual approach to temporality and work on organizational memory and absence, the paper develops a framework for understanding how such past-futures persist. It identifies three interconnected modes through which shadow futures exert influence: inherent structuring, where past-futures remain embedded in routines and infrastructure; reactivation through reframing, where past-futures are selectively reintroduced in new contexts; and silencing the foreclosed, where disavowed past-futures continue to constrain what can be imagined or said. By attending to these quieter forms of temporal persistence, the paper contributes to research on temporality, memory, and future-making, offering a way to understand organizational life as situated within layered and sometimes haunted temporal landscapes.