Table 1

Summary of key studies informing the conceptual framework

Element of frameworkNature and contribution of studyStudy
Strategic management innovationCase study of the transition to hybrid working. Effective transition requires strategic leadership innovation in engaging with challenges and in developing new modes of strategisingBenedic (2022) 
Case study of digital leadership. Findings indicate that innovative strategic level digital leadership supports both physical and online aspects of hybrid workingBellis et al. (2024) 
Editorial to International Journal of HRM- highlights an increased trend among employees to seek hybrid work and to require supportive and often novel approaches from strategic leadershipHarney et al. (2022) 
The case study advocates the role of strategic HRM in providing novel forms of strategic leadership which can provide a sense of location (place) both online and physicallyAmarakoon and Colley (2022) 
Network relationship management innovationInterview and survey-based study highlights how hybrid working changes existing network relationships, creating management innovation opportunities in building and forming new networksWilliams and Shaw (2025) 
Large survey on growth attitudes of small managers indicating how management innovations can emerge from management openness to novel consequences of changes in embedded business networksMcKelvie et al. (2021) 
Case study of two management accounting innovations, illustrating the role of networks in shaping management innovation in contextBen Hamadi and Fournès (2023) 
Qualitative study of twenty-five co-working spaces. This study highlights emergent aspects of hybrid working, with self-organising network potentialEndrissat and Leclerq-Vandelannoitte (2021) 
A qualitative case study illustrates the strength of individual leadership in a small business context, both internally and when engaging with external networksNyamrunda and Freeman (2021) 
Two case studies illustrate the role of supportive human resource practices in small business network changeMatthews (2013) 
Case study indicating the people management challenges where innovation requires new network collaborationHotho and Champion (2011) 
Control and evaluation management innovationReflexive thematic analysis-based study of aspects of hybrid working effectiveness. Findings indicate that new means of control and evaluation can emergeEng et al. (2024) 
A case study of interpretations of innovation management provides examples of the need to innovate control systems in the face of technological changeMcAdam et al. (2007) 
Case study investigation of how an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system impacts on both formal and informal reporting processes. Finds that technological change requires both technical and social process design capabilitiesGreasley and Wang (2016) 
Interview-based study of employee interpretations of hybrid working. Findings support both positive impacts on productivity from a quieter work environment and freedom to organise time, and challenges from perceived lack of structureHanzis and Hallo (2024) 
Introduction to Special Issue of Organisation Studies: “Cultivating paradox in ‘new’ modes of organising”: Highlights post-modern perspectives on the unintended consequences of employee freedom in emerging organisational formsde Vaujany et al. (2021) 
Sense-making and sense-giving management innovationEthnographic study of entrepreneurial leadership. Highlights the importance of sense-making and sense-giving in the face of dynamic technological changeSklaveniti (2017) 
Survey based study. Highlights how top management teams drive management innovations through the-giving development of cultural resources inside the business. The cultural resources then shape employees to support management innovationsYu et al. (2022) 
Survey based study. Management innovation emerges over a long time periods. Top managers shape employee adoption of management innovations through sense-making and sense-givingMerin-Rodriganez et al. (2024) 
Structured literature review. A major finding indicates that hybrid working involves “individual-level switches in work modes and collective-level characterisation of work mode extent and (a) symmetry”. Sense-making and sense-giving are central to successful negotiation of hybrid work as an ongoing transition processLauring and Jonasson (2025) 
Organising as management innovationAction research-based study of virtual working, evaluating role of socialisation in supporting new modes of organising. Study framed by discontinuity theoryAsatiani et al. (2020) 
Study of five teams in a hybrid work context. Findings indicate that there is limited consideration of temporal aspects of work, in organising hybrid workGriva et al. (2024) 
Case study of the development of a physical working space supportive of transition to hybrid working. Indicates the benefits of strategic level organising as a precursor of effective new modes of organisingBenyon and Mival (2015) 

Source(s): Authors’ own work

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