Professor Jane Lê

Chair of Strategic Management

Overview

Jane is Professor of Strategic Management. Her research explores strategy in complex settings, particularly how organizations manage multiple competing goals. Jane is on the editorial boards of Organization Studies, Strategic Organization, and Organizational Research Methods (Associate Editor 2020-2024).

Research interests

Professor Jane Le is internationally recognized for her work on strategic complexity and how organizations manage multiple competing goals. Currently, Jane’s research is focused on three strands:

Strategy as Practice
Jane’s work focuses on how people in and around organizations actually do strategy in practice. Her work in this area has been funded by the ESRC and British Academy, and published in premier outlets like the Academy of Management Journal and Organization Science.
Paradox in Organizations
This stream of work seeks to garner better understanding of how people in organizations manage multiple competing goals, within and across organizations. This work has been supported by an ARC Discovery Grant (2016-2019) and has been published in key handbooks and journals like Organization Studies and Strategic Organization. It was awarded the SO! WHAT Best Paper Award in 2018 and an Organization Studies Editorial Pick in 2017.
Organizational Research Methods
Jane is passionate about qualitative research and qualitative research methods. She has written on various aspects of the research process, including data collection and analysis, and specifics of process research, studying paradox, and CAQDAS. Her most recent work aims to illuminate the practice of research methods, including designs-in-use and ways of innovating methods. She is on the Organizational Research Methods editorial board and will become Associate Editor in 2020.

Recent publications of Professor Jane Lê

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

Advanced qualitative analyses for theorizing

Köhler, T., Lê, J., Smith, A. (accepted), Advanced qualitative analyses for theorizing: balancing deep data engagement with imaginative theorizing, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.

Academy of Management Collections

Two decades of revolutionizing strategy research:

Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J., Seidl, D., Vaara, E. (2025), Two decades of revolutionizing strategy research: how strategy-as-practice illuminates the complex, dynamic and consequential ways of doing strategy., Academy of Management Collections, Vol. 4 (2), pp. 55-76.

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Uncomfortable but developing

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H. L., Menges, J., Lê, J. (2025), Uncomfortable but developmental: how mindfulness moderates the impact of negative emotions on learning, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 24 (2), pp. 197–223.

Organizational Research Methods

Feature topic for ORM

Köhler, T., Smith, A., Greckhamer, T., Lê, J. (2025), Feature topic for ORM: advanced analytic approaches to theorize from qualitative research, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 28 (2), pp. 330 - 334.

Academy of Management Journal

Triggers,traps and disconnect

Couture, F., Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J. (2023), Triggers,traps and disconnect: how governance obstacles hinder progress on grand challenges, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 66 (6), pp. 1651 - 1680.

Human Resource Development Review

Using interpretive methods to unleash the potential of human resource development

Lê, J., Bednarek, R. (2023), Using interpretive methods to unleash the potential of human resource development, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 22 (2), pp. 163-172.

Organizational Research Methods

The practice of innovating research methods

Lê, J., Schmid, T. (2022), The practice of innovating research methods, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 25 (2), pp. 308-336.

Journal of Management Inquiry

A curated debate

Gioia, D., Corley, K., Eisenhardt, K., Feldman, M., Langley, A., Lê, J., Golden-Biddle, K., Locke, K., Mees-Buss, J., Piekkari, R., Ravasi, D., Rerup, C., Schmid, T., Silverman, D., Welch, C. (2022), A curated debate: on using “templates” in qualitative research, Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 31 (3), pp. 231–252.

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

The generative potential of Niklas Luhmann's theorizing for paradox research

Seidl, D., Lê, J., Jarzabkowski, P. (2021), The generative potential of Luhmann's theorizing for paradox research: decision paradox and deparadoxization, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 73b, pp. 49-64.

Journal of Management Inquiry

The lived experience of paradox

Pradies, C., Aust-Gronarz, I., Bednarek, R., Brandl, J., Carmine, S., Cheal, J., Pina E Cunha, M., Gaim, M., Keegan, A., Lê, J., Miron-Spektor, E., Nielsen, R. K., Pouthier, V., Sharma, G., Sparr, J. L., Vince, R., Keller, J. (2021), The lived experience of paradox: how individuals navigate tensions during the pandemic crisis, Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 30 (2), pp. 154-167.

Academy of Management Journal

The social practice of coevolving strategy and structure to realize mandated radical change

Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J., Balogun, J. (2019), The social practice of coevolving strategy and structure to realize mandated radical change, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 62 (3), pp. 850-882.

Organization Studies

We have to do this and that? You must be joking

Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J. (2017), We have to do this and that? You must be joking: constructing and responding to paradox through humor, Organization Studies, Vol. 38 (2018-04-03), pp. 433-462.

Organization Studies

Selling the object of strategy

Balogun, J., Best, K., Lê, J. (2015), Selling the object of strategy: how frontline workers realize strategy through their daily work, Organization Studies, Vol. 36, pp. 1285-1313.

British Journal of Management

The role of task and process conflict in strategizing

Lê, J., Jarzabkowski, P. (2015), The role of task and process conflict in strategizing, British Journal of Management, Vol. 26, pp. 439-462.

British Journal of Management

Materializing strategy and strategizing material

Dameron, S., Lê, J., Lebaron, C. (2015), Materializing strategy and strategizing material: why matter matters, British Journal of Management, Vol. 26 (Supplement), pp. 1-12.

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

Advanced qualitative analyses for theorizing

Köhler, T., Lê, J., Smith, A. (accepted), Advanced qualitative analyses for theorizing: balancing deep data engagement with imaginative theorizing, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.

Academy of Management Collections

Two decades of revolutionizing strategy research:

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Uncomfortable but developing

Organizational Research Methods

Feature topic for ORM

Academy of Management Journal

Triggers,traps and disconnect

Human Resource Development Review

Using interpretive methods to unleash the potential of human resource development

Lê, J., Bednarek, R. (2023), Using interpretive methods to unleash the potential of human resource development, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 22 (2), pp. 163-172.

Organizational Research Methods

The practice of innovating research methods

Lê, J., Schmid, T. (2022), The practice of innovating research methods, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 25 (2), pp. 308-336.

Journal of Management Inquiry

A curated debate

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

The generative potential of Niklas Luhmann's theorizing for paradox research

Journal of Management Inquiry

The lived experience of paradox

Academy of Management Journal

The social practice of coevolving strategy and structure to realize mandated radical change

Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J., Balogun, J. (2019), The social practice of coevolving strategy and structure to realize mandated radical change, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 62 (3), pp. 850-882.

Organization Studies

We have to do this and that? You must be joking

Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J. (2017), We have to do this and that? You must be joking: constructing and responding to paradox through humor, Organization Studies, Vol. 38 (2018-04-03), pp. 433-462.

Organization Studies

Selling the object of strategy

Balogun, J., Best, K., Lê, J. (2015), Selling the object of strategy: how frontline workers realize strategy through their daily work, Organization Studies, Vol. 36, pp. 1285-1313.

British Journal of Management

The role of task and process conflict in strategizing

Lê, J., Jarzabkowski, P. (2015), The role of task and process conflict in strategizing, British Journal of Management, Vol. 26, pp. 439-462.

British Journal of Management

Materializing strategy and strategizing material

Dameron, S., Lê, J., Lebaron, C. (2015), Materializing strategy and strategizing material: why matter matters, British Journal of Management, Vol. 26 (Supplement), pp. 1-12.

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