The Role of Narrative Fiction in the Development of Imagination for Action

The Influence of Fictional Narrative Experience on Work Outcomes: A Conceptual Analysis and Research Model

“…New links among different schemas are established when fictional narratives contain information that is inconsistent with the existing pattern of and linkages among schemas. In this sense, people can learn from stories (Schank & Berman, 2002), because they enable themselves to see through different eyes (Alvarez & Merchan, 1992). According to Pelowski and Akiba (2011), it is the self-image that an individual holds as well as the goals he or she has in terms of the ideal self that determine how that individual will respond to a fictional narrative.…”

“…People learn from fictional narratives, since narratives have been written and orally transported from generation to generation Fictional Narrative Experience and Work Outcomes 4 (DeMott, 1989;Patient et al, 2003). Moreover, fictional narratives may be part of and are useful in giving meaning to membership of a certain social group, and social identities may be formed through a collective understanding of narratives (Alvarez & Merchan, 1992;Phillips, 1995).…”

“…First, fictional narratives reflect a broader perspective on business and management (Alvarez & Merchan, 1992;Czarniawski, 1998). People learn from fictional narratives, since narratives have been written and orally transported from generation to generation Fictional Narrative Experience and Work Outcomes 4 (DeMott, 1989;Patient et al, 2003).…”

Imagination and Creativity in Organizations

“…On the other hand, a growing number of scholars have begun to challenge the absence of imagination in organisation studies (e.g. Alvarez & Merchan, 1992;Carlsen, 2006;Cornelissen, 2013;Komporozos-Athanasiou & Fotaki, 2015b). Notably, Komporozos-Athanasiou and Fotaki (2015a, p. 1) proclaim that the 'imagination is "where it all begins", an inexhaustible psychosocial force driving organisations and organising, and setting the institutionalisation process in motion' (see also De Cock, Rehn, & Berry, 2013;Komporozos-Athanasiou & Fotaki, 2014).…”

“…Finally, despite the acknowledged role of the imagination in envisioning new opportunities and guiding creative behaviour in entrepreneurship studies, few scholars engage directly with the philosophy of imagination to fully theorise joint imagining and images (see Alvarez & Merchan, 1992; Komporozos-Athanasiou & Fotaki, 2014 for exemptions). Cornelissen (2013, p. 707) argues that the 'singular focus on the static, condensed simultaneity of a single thought or symbol' should give way to 'study the plastic, dynamic nature of imagery and imagination and how emergent inferences, in turn, are realized within the institutional, technological, and economic constraints of a market or industry'.…”