Organizing vision revisited and reimagined for a changing world

Organizing vision (OV) theory, developed more than 25 years ago, posits a broad, diverse, and collective envisioning process at the heart of information technology innovation and diffusion. We revisit the theory and review more than 150 publications that have referenced the original paper, seeking to ascertain how the theory has been found useful in addressing innovation with information technology. We group and analyze these contributions according to how the promotion, reception, and enactment of organizing visions engage participants in bringing about change. In our review, we find that a varied group of some 46 technologies and their OVs have been studied. We consider how these contributions have also drawn from and spoken to related theories, topics, and literatures, finding that the influence of OV theory has largely been confined to the information systems field. Looking to the future, we address: (i) whether newer technologies in the changing digitized world are problematic for OV theory; (ii) how the overall engagement mechanism comprising promotion, reception, and enactment can be more deeply understood; and (iii) how OV theory can speak more effectively beyond traditional IS disciplinary bounds. Building especially on the more recent contributions, we propose a reimagining of the theory with which to guide its continued development and application.