Abstract
In their Strategy as Practice (SAP) review, Vaara and Whittington (2012: 317-318) suggest that “it would be interesting to better understand the special role and identities that women (and men) play in strategy and strategizing in various contexts (…) (and) how masculine values embedded in strategy discourses make people behave accordingly.” This call for SAP scholars to pay greater attention to the impact of gender has gone largely unheeded. While most assert that strategy is a social practice embedded in organizational rules and norms, scholars rarely consider that strategy decisions are affected by socio-cultural structures such as gender, ethnicity, age, and so forth (Rouleau and Cloutier, 2022). Despite this, when strategizing, managers are guided by their social identities, including how they view themselves as managers, gendered human beings, and so on. Gender differs from biological sex in that it is considered socially constructed. Gender (e.g., woman, man, non-binary) refers to the social, cultural, and behavioural attributes, roles, and expectations associated with a person’s gender identity, which may or may not align with their biological sex. This entry is an appeal to consider gender when undertaking SAP research. We will first review the literature as it pertains to this question. We will then put forward an overview of the ways in which the spectrum of gender expression might be treated in SAP research as a means of enhancing understanding of strategizing. Finally, we will suggest a research agenda for the future.