Strategic Ignorance A Research Overview

Part 1: An Introduction 1. Introducing Strategic Ignorance 2. Defining Strategic Ignorance Part 2: Strategic Ignorance at the Organizational Level 3. Strategic Ignorance Dynamics in Everyday Organizational Practices 4. Strategic Ignorance in Public Institutions: Northern Ireland and the UK’s Post Office Horizon Scandals 5. Postcolonial and Feminist Approaches to Strategic Ignorance 6. Strategic Ignorance, Technology and Power 7. Researching Strategic Ignorance

Biography

Meghan Van Portfliet is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her PhD from Queen's University of Belfast in 2019. Her research centers on the topics of whistleblowing and organizational ignorance, and she has been invited to speak on her research in Canada, Indonesia, the UK, the US South Africa and Ireland. Mahaut Fanchini is Assistant Professor at the University of Paris-Est Créteil, France.

Mahaut Fanchini is Associate Professor at Université Paris-Est Créteil and a member of the Institut de Recherche en Gestion (IRG). Her research examines whistleblowing and the circulation of information in organizations from a critical perspective, with a focus on the dynamics of power, voice, and silence.

"This book compellingly illustrates how organisations are shaped by what they deliberately choose to ignore. Through a variety of examples, strategic ignorance is shown to be a key mechanism of power and organisational survival, and how it can be used to protect legitimacy. The authors demonstrate how not knowing can be productive, protective and deeply damaging all at once. The book also includes methodological reflections on how strategic ignorance can be studied, making it highly beneficial for students of ignorance." Morten Knudsen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

“Individuals and organizations celebrate knowledge, transparency, and rational decision making while ignorance tends to be overlooked. In this fascinating book, Meghan Van Portfliet and Mahaut Fanchini examine the deliberate production and use of ignorance in organizations and society. From corporate scandals and trade secrets to digital technologies and meaningless work, the book shows how ignorance is not simply the opposite of knowledge but often a functional and politically useful organizational resource. Combining organization studies, sociology, and critical theory, this book offers a provocative account of how strategic ignorance shapes power, legitimacy, accountability, and contemporary organizational life.” Stephan Schaefer, Lund University, Sweden