The Show Must Go On: A Qualitative Study Examining Organisational Change Processes in Performing Arts Organisations During Exogenous Shocks

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates how exogenous shocks affect organisational change processes in performing arts organisations by examining two case studies on Konserthuset Stockholm and Kungliga Operan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a qualitative multiple case study with semi-structured interviews, we trace change over an extended period from pre-pandemic conditions to post-pandemic outcomes. Our findings reveal that exogenous shocks function as punctuating events that accelerate existing change, rather than create fundamentally new change. These effects depend on pre-existing organisational conditions, particularly identity and change agent-recipient dynamics, rather than the intensity of the shock alone. The urgency created by the pandemic initially reduced inertia and resistance, but organisational identity created new barriers. As identity-based resistance challenged the change initiatives, it became crucial to engage with the resistance productively by harnessing the feedback to create more effective and sustained change. Identity was found to be more malleable when new meanings were embedded within existing identity labels, consistent with adaptive instability. This study highlights that identical exogenous shocks produced different change processes depending on pre-existing problems and how strongly the threatened identity was tied to the organisational mission.