Conform and Oppose through Numbers: Quantifying Hybrid Organizations at the International Cooperative Alliance

[en] Collectives of hybrid organizations have emerged with the aim of promoting the plural goals and values embodied by their member organizations. Doing so, however, often requires simultaneous conformity and opposition to dominant institutional norms, such as those underlying mainstream market activity. We examine how hybrid collectives navigate this ‘conform‐and‐oppose’ tension as they seek to promote their members' hybrid form through quantification – i.e., the use of numbers to label, count, and describe members. Analyzing the case of the International Cooperative Alliance, we identify four interrelated dimensions (valorization, validity, reactivity, and retroaction) through which a hybrid collective can harness quantification to manage differing commitments to market and social goals and values within and beyond the collective – a process we name formative quantification. Core to this process are two filtering mechanisms – validity searching and values queuing – through which a hybrid collective integrates stakeholder perceptions of truth (validity) and value (valorization) to navigate hybrid tensions. Our work extends theory on hybrid tension management to the inter‐organizational level, while shifting the view of organizational quantification from a tool of conformity‐enhancing evaluation towards a collective search for numbers that both conform to and oppose taken‐for‐granted norms.

Research Center/Unit :

CES - Centre d'Économie Sociale - ULiège

Disciplines :

General management, entrepreneurship & organizational theory
Social economics

Author, co-author :

Huybrechts, Benjamin ; IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 – LEM (Lille Economie Management)

Nelson, Dylan ; Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign

Nelson, Teresa ; Simmons University

O'Shea, Noreen ; ESCP Business School

Dufays, Frédéric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège Research > HEC Liège Research: Social Enterprise and Collective Action for Transition (SECAT) ; KULeuven

Language :

English

Title :

Conform and Oppose through Numbers: Quantifying Hybrid Organizations at the International Cooperative Alliance

Publication date :

2025

Journal title :

Journal of Management Studies

ISSN :

0022-2380

eISSN :

1467-6486

Publisher :

Wiley

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

2487-2516

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Development Goals :

8. Decent work and economic growth
17. Partnerships for the goals

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/joms.13123

Available on ORBi :

since 15 July 2024

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