Playful Theorizing

Abstract

Management and organization scholars increasingly call for research that is more creative, societally relevant, and capable of addressing complex grand challenges. Yet such future-oriented inquiry often unfolds under conditions of uncertainty, where ambiguity, incomplete knowledge, and multiple plausible futures coexist, while guidance on how to navigate these conditions remains limited. This article introduces playful theorizing as a meta-orientation that treats uncertainty as a generative resource for theorizing. Playful theorizing legitimizes uncertainty, encourages structured conceptual experimentation, and helps scholars explore alternative possibilities before settling on explanations, prescriptions, or theoretical claims. While the article’s focus and examples center on how playful theorizing complements prescriptive, future-oriented theorizing, it also shows how this orientation can enrich a wider range of theorizing forms, approaches, and activities, thereby expanding researchers’ imaginative and ethical horizons at the intersection of business and society.