Rediscovering Craft in Organization Studies: Perspectives and Pathways

While craft has long lived in the margins of organizational research, mostly as a context for advancing more general theories, it has recently become the object of dedicated study and theorization. In this Introduction, we first highlight and synthesize key insights from three perspectives (phenomenological, social constructionist, and essentialist) that prior research has adopted to analyze craft. These three perspectives understood craft as an artisanal mode of production, a socially constructed characterization of productions, producers and products, and a distinctive approach to work and organizing, respectively. We position the articles and media reviews in this special issue in relation to the three perspectives and show how they advance understanding of new and emerging manifestations of craft in and around organizations. We conclude by outlining pathways for further research on craft as a complex, multifaceted and constantly morphing social and organizational phenomenon.