A bricolage perspective on healthcare information systems design

Strategic improvisation: an introductory conceptual framework

Purpose

By exploring “what is strategic improvisation in organizations?” the authors respond to advances in strategic improvisation (SI) conceptualization with an emphasis on the challenges of combining unplanned but deliberate responses to relentlessly changing environments, in which strategy becomes increasingly improvised.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrative review was conducted with the potential to develop new theoretical approaches to research problems. This literature review resulted in an introductory SI framework.

Findings

The authors propose a SI conceptual framework combining foundation, structuration and capillarization. While foundations comprise extemporaneity, novelty and intentionality, considered as triggers for the manifestation of SI, in this study structuration refers to the combination of a minimal structure and a reassessment process in response to unexpected situations. Capillarization means interaction patterns characterized as spontaneous, dynamic and collaborative. This framework leads to the definition of SI as an impromptu deliberate action stream, combining unplanned responses with intentional actions sustaining the convergence of strategy and operation, to integrate and reconfigure resources at the strategic level.

Practical implications

SI in practice considers reconfiguring the internal and external forces to deal with unexpected events and impromptu deliberate responses to face rapidly changing environments. This would enable practitioners and managers to prepare for eventualities that evolve dynamically and spontaneously, and unpredictable imminent global crises.

Originality/value

The authors conducted the first study mapping improvisation as a strategic organizational level phenomenon. SI is recognized as operating across levels, from the tactical and functional to the strategic.

Organization Improvisational Capability

This study develops and validates an instrument for assessing organization improvisational capability (OIC) for potential use in future empirical studies. A definition of OIC and its dimensions are proposed based on an intensive literature review. An initial three-dimension, nine-item OIC scale derived from the literature is validated iteratively and then refined through a rigorous process into a two-factor, eight-item scale. The final scale demonstrates adequate psychometric properties, including reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. As such, this study contributes to a deeper theoretical understanding of the OIC construct and the appropriate application of such scales in future empirical studies. Future research on organization performance, agility, and strategy could utilize the proposed scale to study how OIC creates business value.