Enacting strategy without authority: a conceptual model of strategy translation by middle academic leaders

Purpose The existing literature does not clearly specify how institutional strategy signals affect the local practices of middle academic leaders, particularly when they operate under conditions of professional autonomy and institutional constraint. This study provides a process-based model explaining how institutional strategy signals are translated into localized middle-management practices under conditions of professional autonomy and structural constraints. Design/methodology/approach This study employs an integrative theoretical approach drawing on strategy-as-practice, institutional complexity and middle-management perspectives to develop a recursive framework for strategy translation under institutional constraint and a set of propositions describing the relationships among signal multiplicity, interpretive ambiguity, dual positioning, institutional constraints and localized variation. Findings Middle academic leaders are positioned as actors who interpret, negotiate and enact institutional strategy signals through bounded, iterative translation processes shaped by dual accountability and structural constraint. The model demonstrates that institutional coherence can coexist with variation in local enactment and positions the ambiguity associated with policy implementation as a function of structure (i.e. the system) rather than communication (i.e. a lack of information or poor communication). Research limitations/implications The study provides an empirical conceptualization of signal multiplicity, dual structural positioning and institutional constraint. Therefore, future studies could operationalize these concepts to test the propositions developed in this study using data from multiple types of organizations. Practical implications The framework identifies how multiple institutional signals create interpretive demands on middle academic leaders, and implies that senior leadership and governance systems should align consequential and aspirational signals to reduce unnecessary ambiguity, and that institutions may benefit from structured cross-level dialog and clearer accountability design to support bounded strategy translation. Social implications Understanding how institutional strategy signals are translated under structural constraints will lead to greater transparency and coordination within the governance structures of professionalized organizations. A better understanding of this translation process may also help limit symbolic compliance and enable more coherent strategy enactment in knowledge-intensive environments. Originality/value This study provides a structurally grounded explanation of strategy implementation in professionalized and pluralistic workplaces by identifying translation under constraint as a mechanism linking institutional intent to situated practice.