Abstract
Research on creative organizations often highlights a concern that economic influences on creative work might crowd out aesthetic influences. How this concern can be managed, however, is not well understood. Using a case study of an economic/aesthetic conflict within a design firm, we develop theory to describe how the economic and aesthetic can be constructively combined. We propose the concept of conversation as a way of theorizing a constructed sociality via which creative firms manage this conflict; we also propose the concept of ensemble as a way of theorizing a conversationally nurtured but fragile form of intensified sociality that most successfully combines conflicting influences when it can be achieved. Together, these theoretical conceptualizations contribute new insights and help organize a fragmented landscape of ideas about work in creative firms.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Organization Studies |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 11 |
Pages (from-to) | 1501-1519 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISSN | 0170-8406 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Published online: 26. October 2017Keywords
- Conversation
- Creative economy
- Creative firms
- Ensemble
- Group creativity
- Organizational aesthetics