Journal article
Organizations, Risk Translations and the Ecology of Risks: The Discursive Construction of a Novel Risk
Cynthia Hardy, Steve Maguire
Academy of Management Journal | Academy of Management | Published : 2020
Abstract
The contemporary ‘risk society’ is associated with the emergence of a wide range of risks characterised by uncertainty and unfamiliarity. These ‘novel’ risks pose a major challenge for organizations: their negative effects may be significant, but prevailing risk assessment techniques are limited in their ability to identify them. Building on our prior work on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), this study examines how organizations deal with novel risks. It finds that organizations engage in ‘risk translation’ by translating equivocality associated with the novel risk into more familiar risks, which provide them with a clearer basis and guide for action. As organizations take actions to manage t..
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Awarded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Funding Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Associate Editor Tima Bansal and three anonymous reviewers who generously guided the development of the paper. We also acknowledge and thank our funders: this work was supported by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC: 435-2014-0256), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health through their Environments and Health Signature Initiative (CIHR: FRN IP3-150711), the Australian Research Council (ARC: DP160101188), and the University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics' Eminent Research Scholar and Visiting Professorial Fellow programs.