Hybrid stakeholders and processes in social impact organizing: a constitutive approach to hybridity

Abstract All actors engage in hybrid organizing. Grounded in constitutive approaches, this article reorients attention to hybridity by examining how actors combine multiple, often competing, constitutive elements in social impact organizing. Building on recent developments in communication research that challenge long-standing assumptions about organizing—and increased scholarly attention to social impact—we argue that hybrid stakeholders and hybrid processes play a central role in constructing social reality. To illustrate this argument, we draw on examples from three recently published studies to showcase hybrid organizing across diverse contexts. While this article focuses on hybridity of social impact organizing situated within organizational communication, we further discuss its relevance to diverse social phenomena and various subfields of communication (e.g., health, political, intercultural). We suggest that, given the prevalence of hybridity in social and organizational reality and its significance in shaping the future of work, a hybridity lens generates meaningful theoretical advancements and practical implications.