Supervisors: Jakob Arnoldi & Bart Verwaeren
Discussants: Ann-Kristina Løkke Møller & Birte Asmuß

Abstract
This PhD project investigates how leaders’ cognitive processes influence how they navigate organizational paradoxes (Hahn & Knight, 2020; Schad et al., 2016). Prior research has found that while some leaders recognize paradoxical tensions for improving performance, innovation, and leadership (Hahn et al., 2014; Ingram et al., 2014; Lüscher & Lewis, 2008; Smith, 2014), others experience these as frustrating and respond defensively which can have negative consequences on these same outcomes (Lewis, 2000; Jarzabkowski et al., 2013; Vince & Broussince, 1996). Scholars argue that individuals who engage in paradoxical thinking – defined as the ability “to effectively embrace, rather than avoid contradictions” (Smith & Tushman, 2005, p. 533) – are more likely to experience and manage organizational paradox effectively (Miron-Spektor et al., 2011; Schad et al., 2016; Sharma & Bansal, 2017; Smith & Lewis, 2021).

While existing literature has identified some important characteristics for engaging in paradoxical thinking, particularly paradox mindset (Miron-Spektor et al., 2017) and integrative complexity (Smith, 2014; Zhang et al., 2015), these characteristics have primarily been studied in the context of employees and people management. As such, limited research has empirically examined the role of paradoxical thinking in addressing strategic-level tensions, despite the fact that much of paradox research centers on how senior leaders manage such tensions – e.g., exploration and exploitation (Schad et al., 2016; Raisch & Timmermann, 2017; Smith, 2014).

Building on paradox theory (Smith & Lewis, 2011) and upper echelon theory (Finkelstein et al., 2009), my first papers will address this gap by investigating whether CEO paradoxical thinking has an impact on firm organizational ambidexterity (the capacity to both explore and exploit) and performance (Paper 1), and firm corporate sustainability (Paper 2). Next, I conduct a qualitative case study exploring how individual and collective sensemaking of senior leaders in a marketing company shape which paradoxes are enacted and how they respond to them, including how the company’s unique business model may shape the potentialities for enacted paradoxes to become knotted and interdependent (Jarzabkowski et al., 2021; Sheep et al., 2017). Finally, I develop a conceptual paper that responds to the debate about “whether paradoxical thinking is an embedded trait, or something that can be taught and learned over time” (Schad et al., 2016, p. 41). Applying a constructive developmental perspective (e.g., McCauley et al., 2006), I argue that paradoxical thinking can be developed over time, and that individual epistemologies influence actors’ response to different types of paradoxes.

Everyone is welcome!