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Sensemaking with Institutional Logics: How Top Managers Drive Strategic Change in Response to Evolving and Diverse Industrial Policies

Yang Li & Jingjiang Liu

Management and Organization Review2026https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2025.10104article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This study examines how top managers engage in sensemaking to navigate dynamic and complex industrial policy environments and respond strategically. Based on a longitudinal narrative case study of a privately owned firm in China, we explore how managers interpret evolving policy signals and drive corporate strategic change. We extend sensemaking theory by incorporating an institutional logics perspective to investigate how top managers draw on multiple logics to make sense of policy shifts and craft organizational responses. The study develops a holistic process model that links industrial policy, sensemaking, and strategic change, highlighting the embedded agency of top managers in responding to evolving and diverse institutional pressures. By unpacking the temporal dynamics of sensemaking, we identify how the temporality of sensemaking contributes to heterogeneity in corporate strategic behavior. This research advances understanding of sensemaking as a key process linking shifting policies with firm strategic actions and contributes to the literature on sensemaking, institutional logics, and strategic change.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2025.10104

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@article{yang2026,
  title        = {{Sensemaking with Institutional Logics: How Top Managers Drive Strategic Change in Response to Evolving and Diverse Industrial Policies}},
  author       = {Yang Li & Jingjiang Liu},
  journal      = {Management and Organization Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2025.10104},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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