Beyond Balancing?

This study theoretically conceptualizes leadership challenges in hybrid organizations. In general, leadership is understood as a social relation where an actor influences the action of a second actor to fulfill the first actor’s intention, where the intention is usually a defined goal. However, because hybrid organizations operate at the intersection of different sectors, their leaders often need to lead without the option to set a single clear goal. Our study explores these questions: How do hybrid organizational environments affect leaders, and how can actors lead effectively in hybrid organizations? Introducing Bourdieu’s concept of fields and routine practice, we describe the organizational role of leadership in hybrid organizations as a “game” (Bourdieu) between the opposing logics of markets and civil society. The article concludes with a research agenda for further empirical examination of leadership practices in hybrid organizations, one that goes beyond simply balancing conflicting objectives and institutionalizes new practices that incorporate the logics both of markets and of civil society.