Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory
Open accessAbstract
This paper describes the emerging field of practice theory as it is practiced in relation to organizational phenomena. We identify three approaches—empirical, theoretical, and philosophical—that relate to the what, the how, and the why of using a practice lens. We discuss three principles of the theoretical approach to practice and offer examples of how practice theory has been used in the organizational literature and in our own research. We end with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities that practice theory affords organizational scholarship.
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As governance practices are used to enable and constrain action, member reaction towards them is often unknown and it is in this unknown that activity occurs, meaning is derived, and collective action threats can reside.
“As governance practices are used to enable and constrain action, member reaction towards them is often unknown and it is in this unknown that activity occurs, meaning is derived, and collective action threats can reside (Wenger 1998;Dourish 2001;Feldman and Orlikowski 2011;Mindel et al. 2018).”
From Freeriding and Rebellion: An Investigation of Open Source Vendor Relicensing and Member Hard Forking Events (2026) · cites this paper as Feldman and Orlikowski 2011
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- Authors
- Feldman, M. S., & Orlikowski, W. J.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Venue
- Organization Science
- Published
- 2011-10
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1240-1253
- ISSN
- 1047-7039 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-5455
- OpenAlex
- W2151363056
- Cited by
- 1,753
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 78 · 2025: 108 · 2024: 93 · 2023: 107 · 2022: 118 · 2021: 182 · 2020: 147 · 2019: 148 · 2018: 151 · 2017: 121 · 2016: 118 · 2015: 111 · 2014: 108 · 2013: 97 · 2012: 44
- FWCI
- 156.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Organization Science (publishedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management Theory and Practice
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
- Keywords
- practice theory, organizational phenomena, organizational analysis, theory-practice integration
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