Abstract

Prior research on organizational responses to normative pressures has cataloged a spectrum of strategies, ranging from accommodation to resistance, but more assertive responses have largely been overlooked. We expand the existing repertoire to include the more aggressive, targeted, and intertemporal response of organizational repression. We define repression as a unique strategy designed to prevent, control, or constrain stakeholder collective action (SCA) that aims to induce organizational change. Repression can target both internal and external stakeholders and can operate both proactively and reactively. Our theorizing focuses first on repression’s antecedents and second on how organizations select among myriad repressive tactics. We propose that organizations are more likely to repress SCA when they perceive stakeholders as i) having potential, but less actual power relative to the focal organization, ii) less legitimate, and iii) threatening core business activities. Further, we argue that the selection of repressive tactics will vary across i) internal and external stakeholders and ii) temporal stages of SCA. Our theory builds from and contributes to the neo-institutional, nonmarket strategy, and stakeholder theory literatures. Ultimately, we seek to draw scholarly and practitioner attention to repression, as its use has sweeping consequences for organizations, stakeholders, and society more broadly.

• Keyword(s):
• organizational behavior 183
• strategy and entrepreneurship 205
• sustainability 26