Title: Strategy formation as narrative-driven performative praxis

Authors: Pavel Prokushenkov

Addresses: Department of Management, Estonian Business School, Lauteri 3, 10114 Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract: This paper seeks to research the performative dimension of strategising at the individual level in the context of strategy-as-practice. The study focuses on narrative-driven praxis being formed by practitioners involved in strategic discursive practices. The interconnections within strategy discourse lead to interdiscursivity that influences strategic decision-making. Revealing interdiscursivity is crucial as it is the key to understanding the praxis of strategy formation. This is action research that involved 16 practitioners from 13 countries around the world. Critical discourse analysis is applied to data collected through purposive sampling during online coaching sessions. The author acted as an executive coach. The theoretical and practical implications of this paper are presented as a non-normative model that describes strategy formation as narrative-driven performative praxis. The constructed model can be used as a theoretical basis for individual coaching sessions on strategy formation.

Keywords: action research; coaching; critical discourse analysis; CDA; narratives; decision-making; performativity; strategy formation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2023.131734

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2023 Vol.22 No.3, pp.310 - 333

Received: 30 Mar 2022
Accepted: 10 May 2022
Published online: 30 Jun 2023 *

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