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Rallying the Troops and Defending against Sanctions: A Government Body Breaking Decision‐Making Rules to Fund Entrepreneurial Ventures

Author

Listed:
  • Dean A. Shepherd
  • Jeaneth Johansson
  • Malin Malmström
  • Joakim Wincent

Abstract

Critical to top management’s organizing efforts are the formal rules for how organizational members are to make decisions. However, employees can break top management’s decision‐making rules. Although scholars have investigated rule breaking at the individual and group levels of analysis, research is needed into how members come together as a group to break an organization’s decision‐making rules, and how groups’ rule breaking persists. To address this important research gap, we draw from a real‐time qualitative investigation of both the breaking and following of decision‐making rules to develop a group model that: (1) explains how an individual can trigger his or her group to break decision‐making rules to generate perceived benefits for the group and/or others external to the organization, (2) provides insights into the mechanisms by which rule breaking persists, and (3) highlights the norms of developing and perpetuating groups’ breaking decision‐making rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Dean A. Shepherd & Jeaneth Johansson & Malin Malmström & Joakim Wincent, 2021. "Rallying the Troops and Defending against Sanctions: A Government Body Breaking Decision‐Making Rules to Fund Entrepreneurial Ventures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 321-358, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:58:y:2021:i:2:p:321-358
    DOI: 10.1111/joms.12562
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lucas, David S. & Fuller, Caleb S. & Packard, Mark D., 2022. "Made to be broken? A theory of regulatory governance and rule-breaking entrepreneurial action," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).

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