Why a reading is plausible.
The evidence helps us keep multiple explanations open and ask better questions about what happened.
Research on resistance to change and missed opportunities
The evidence behind the map.
This map brings together research on opportunity recognition, organisational attention, voice and silence, decision-making, resistance to change, implementation and learning.
81 publications57 reviews and syntheses144 pattern-to-source links1979 to 2026 publication range
Proof of your local case.
The map is an evidence-informed synthesis. It is not a validated diagnostic, causal law or personnel assessment.
Resistance is not one thing.
Pushback can expose a weak case, an unfair cost, a poor change, missing capacity or strategic obstruction.
Complete reference list
All 81 publications
Showing 81 of 81
Signal detection: applying analysis methods from psychology to animal behaviour
Sumner & Sumner · 2020
Signal detection theory for separating sensitivity and response criterion.
Method review. Measurement theoryLimit: Cross-domain method; not direct opportunity evidence.Dissociable prior influences of signal probability and relevance on visual contrast sensitivity
Wyart et al. · 2012
Perceptual decisions reflect sensory evidence and choice bias.
Experimental study. Experimental psychologyLimit: Laboratory perceptual task.The hindsight bias: A meta-analysis
Christensen-Szalanski & Willham · 1991
Synthesizes hindsight-bias evidence.
Meta-analysis. Judgment and decision makingLimit: Older literature; case transfer requires records.Outcome bias in decision evaluation
Baron & Hershey · 1988
Shows outcome information distorts evaluation of decision quality.
Experiments. Judgment and decision makingLimit: Outcome bias is not proof a focal decision was good.New Developments in Social Network Analysis
Brass · 2022
Reviews social networks as channels of access, influence, and information.
Annual Review. Organizational networksLimit: Network value depends on content and context.Social sources of information in opportunity recognition
Ozgen & Baron · 2007
Links social information sources with opportunity recognition.
Field study. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Observational and entrepreneurship-specific.Social Network Analysis: Foundations and Frontiers on Advantage
Burt et al. · 2013
Reviews network position, brokerage, and information advantages.
Annual Review. Social networksLimit: Brokerage can carry coordination and trust costs.Information Exposure, Opportunity Evaluation, and Entrepreneurial Action: An Investigation of an Online User Community
Autio et al. · 2013
External information exposure shapes opportunity beliefs and action.
Field study. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Field evidence; causal direction is limited.Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events
Simons & Chabris · 1999
Demonstrates sustained inattentional blindness for unexpected events.
Experiment. PerceptionLimit: Perceptual task; strategic transfer is inferential.The role of perceptual and cognitive load on inattentional blindness: A systematic review and three meta-analyses
Matias et al. · 2022
Perceptual load increases inattentional blindness; cognitive-load findings are less settled.
Systematic review + meta-analyses. PerceptionLimit: Strategic field transfer is not direct.Towards an Attention-Based View of the Firm
Ocasio · 1997
Attention-based view: structures and rules channel organizational attention.
Theory with empirical program. Strategy and organizationLimit: Does not establish opportunity quality.Communication and attention dynamics: An attention-based view of strategic change
Ocasio, Laamanen & Vaara · 2018
Connects communication practices and strategic attention.
Integrative review. Strategy and organizationLimit: Broad theory; operationalization varies.Entrepreneurial alertness: A meta-analysis and empirical review
Araujo et al. · 2023
Synthesizes alertness links across 125 studies and 597 effects.
Meta-analysis. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Much evidence is correlational and self-reported.Entrepreneurial alertness in the pursuit of new opportunities
Tang, Kacmar & Busenitz · 2012
Measures scanning/search, association/connection, and evaluation/judgment.
Scale development. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Self-report alertness is not recognition accuracy.Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities
Shane · 2000
Prior knowledge shapes which entrepreneurial opportunities are discovered.
Field study. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Single domain and observational design.Relationship between human capital, new venture ideas, and opportunity beliefs: A meta-analysis
Canavati et al. · 2021
Human capital relates to opportunity ideas and beliefs with moderators.
Meta-analysis. EntrepreneurshipLimit: Context and measurement heterogeneity remain.Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation
Cohen & Levinthal · 1990
Defines absorptive capacity as recognizing, assimilating, and applying external knowledge.
Seminal theory + empirical work. InnovationLimit: Proxy measures can reify the construct.Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension
Zahra & George · 2002
Separates potential from realized absorptive capacity.
Theory review. StrategyLimit: Broad construct with heterogeneous measures.The Reification of Absorptive Capacity: A Critical Review and Rejuvenation of the Construct
Lane, Koka & Pathak · 2006
Reviews 289 absorptive-capacity papers and cautions against reification.
Critical review. StrategyLimit: A critique and synthesis, not a single causal estimate.Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking
Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld · 2005
Sensemaking converts ambiguous circumstances into actionable accounts.
Integrative review. Organization studiesLimit: Plausibility is not accuracy; much evidence is qualitative.Knowledge Transfer Within Organizations: Mechanisms, Motivation, and Consideration
Argote · 2024
Reviews opportunities, transfer mechanisms, knowledge characteristics, and motivation.
Annual Review. Organizational learningLimit: Transfer can be shallow or distorted.Status quo bias in decision making
Samuelson & Zeckhauser · 1988
Establishes status-quo bias across choice contexts.
Experiments + applications. Decision scienceLimit: Persistence may be rational under real switching costs.When and Why Defaults Influence Decisions: A Meta-Analysis of Default Effects
Jachimowicz et al. · 2019
Defaults systematically influence choices and effects vary by mechanism and context.
Meta-analysis. Behavioral policyLimit: A default effect does not identify irrationality.Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk
Kahneman & Tversky · 1979
Prospect theory models reference dependence and asymmetric value.
Seminal experiments/theory. Decision scienceLimit: Magnitude is context-dependent; not a universal 2:1 constant.Thirty Years of Prospect Theory in Economics: A Review and Assessment
Barberis · 2013
Reviews applications and boundaries of prospect theory.
Review. EconomicsLimit: Applications vary in fit and identification.Ambiguity aversion: Bibliometric analysis and literature review of the last 60 years
Bühren et al. · 2021
Synthesizes six decades of ambiguity research and heterogeneous responses.
Review. Decision scienceLimit: Ambiguity aversion is not universal.Decision Under Uncertainty: State of the Science
Gilboa & Marinacci · 2025
Reviews contemporary decision theory under uncertainty.
Annual Review. EconomicsLimit: Normative models do not alone establish observed mechanism.Readiness for Organizational Change
Holt et al. · 2007
Separates appropriateness, management support, efficacy, and personal valence in readiness.
Scale development. Organizational changeLimit: Self-report readiness does not guarantee behavior.Change Recipients' Reactions to Organizational Change
Oreg, Vakola & Armenakis · 2011
Synthesizes 60 years of change-recipient research across antecedents and responses.
Quantitative review. Organizational changeLimit: Heterogeneous constructs and many correlational studies.Responses to Organizational Change: Evolution of the Concept, Established Findings, and Future Directions
Oreg & Sverdlik · 2026
Integrates tripartite responses, ambivalence, levels, time, and culture.
Annual Review. Organizational changeLimit: Current synthesis; does not make every response dysfunctional.Psychological Safety: A Meta-Analytic Review and Extension
Frazier et al. · 2017
Synthesizes psychological safety across 136 samples and multiple levels.
Meta-analysis. Organizational psychologyLimit: Much evidence is observational; safety is not comfort or agreement.Psychological Safety Comes of Age: Observed Themes in an Established Literature
Edmondson & Bransby · 2023
Reviews psychological safety, learning, and performance in dynamic settings.
Annual Review. Organizational psychologyLimit: Safety is insufficient without task and system conditions.Employee Voice and Silence: Taking Stock a Decade Later
Morrison · 2023
Synthesizes employee voice and silence research.
Annual Review. Organizational behaviorLimit: Voice and silence are not simple opposites.Selling Issues to Top Management
Dutton & Ashford · 1993
Explains how issue selling shapes strategic agenda access.
Theory. StrategyLimit: Effective selling can elevate poor ideas.Rethinking Resistance and Recognizing Ambivalence: A Multidimensional View of Attitudes Toward an Organizational Change
Piderit · 2000
Models resistance as potentially ambivalent cognitive, affective, and behavioral response.
Theory review. Organizational changeLimit: Conceptual synthesis; mechanism must be measured.Understanding Psychological Reactance: New Developments and Findings
Steindl et al. · 2015
Reviews psychological reactance, freedom threat, anger, and counter-arguing.
Review. Social psychologyLimit: Direct organizational-change evidence is thinner.Resistance to Change: The Rest of the Story
Ford, Ford & D'Amelio · 2008
Shows change agents can contribute to responses labeled resistance.
Theory review. Organizational changeLimit: Not a test that all dissent is correct.Trust Within the Workplace: A Review of Two Waves of Research and a Glimpse of the Third
Dirks & de Jong · 2022
Reviews two waves of research on trust within the workplace and emerging directions.
Annual Review. Organizational psychologyLimit: A selective review; trust can be misplaced, so specify trustee and domain.Herscovitch and Meyer's Three-Component Model of Commitment to Change: Meta-Analytic Findings
Bouckenooghe, Schwarz & Minbashian · 2015
Affective and normative commitment predict support; continuance commitment differs.
Meta-analysis. Organizational changeLimit: Only 17 studies; causal evidence remains limited.The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions
Michie, van Stralen & West · 2011
COM-B specifies capability, opportunity, and motivation as conditions for behavior.
Systematic framework synthesis. Implementation scienceLimit: A framework, not a universal causal effect size.Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context: The Reality of Resources and Their Consequences
Hobfoll et al. · 2018
Reviews conservation of resources theory, loss, stress, and resilience.
Annual Review. Organizational psychologyLimit: Broad stress theory; focal pathways require temporal measures.The updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research based on user feedback
Damschroder et al. · 2022
Updates CFIR determinants for intervention, setting, individuals, and process.
Literature review + user survey. Implementation scienceLimit: Determinant framework; does not itself estimate outcome effects.Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Effects and Processes
Gollwitzer & Sheeran · 2006
Implementation intentions improve goal enactment across studies.
Meta-analysis. Self-regulationLimit: Effects depend on goal commitment and task.Psychology of Planning
Gollwitzer & Sheeran · 2025
Updates the evidence and boundary conditions for implementation intentions.
Annual Review. Self-regulationLimit: Planning cannot replace resources or authority.Outcomes for Implementation Research: Conceptual Distinctions, Measurement Challenges, and Research Agenda
Proctor et al. · 2011
Distinguishes implementation outcomes such as adoption, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability.
Conceptual synthesis. Implementation scienceLimit: Outcome taxonomy; not a determinant model.Information sharing and team performance: A meta-analysis
Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch · 2009
Information sharing predicts team performance with task and method moderators.
Meta-analysis. Team researchLimit: Average relation does not identify each coordination failure.Team-level predictors of innovation at work: A comprehensive meta-analysis spanning three decades of research
Hülsheger, Anderson & Salgado · 2009
Synthesizes team-level predictors of innovation across 104 studies.
Meta-analysis. Team researchLimit: Predominantly correlational evidence.The Relationship Between Team Diversity and Team Performance: Reconciling Promise and Reality Through a Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Registered Report
Wallrich et al. · 2024
Across 615 reports, average diversity-performance effects are generally small and task-contingent.
Registered-report meta-analysis. Team researchLimit: Do not infer performance from demographic diversity alone.Economics and the Theory of Games
Vega-Redondo · 2003
Formal treatment of coordination, public goods, signaling, bargaining, and coalitions.
Scholarly monograph. Game theoryLimit: Formal models require explicit payoff and information assumptions.The Analytical Foundations of Collective Action Theory: A Survey of Some Recent Developments
Medina · 2013
Reviews analytical foundations and recent developments in collective action theory.
Annual Review. Political economyLimit: Institutions and group structure condition predictions.Behavioral Contract Theory
Kőszegi · 2014
Reviews behavioral contract theory, information, incentives, and bounded behavior.
Review. EconomicsLimit: Mechanisms depend on contract and institutional detail.Decentralization, Hierarchies, and Incentives: A Mechanism Design Perspective
Mookherjee · 2006
Reviews decentralization, hierarchies, information, and incentives.
Review. EconomicsLimit: Normative models need contextual assumptions.Structural Inertia and Organizational Change
Hannan & Freeman · 1984
Structural inertia constrains reliable organizational change.
Theory + empirical program. Organization theoryLimit: Population-ecology assumptions do not fit every internal change.Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning
March · 1991
Models tensions between exploration and exploitation in learning systems.
Formal theory/simulation. Organization theoryLimit: Stylized model; balance is context-dependent.Dynamic capabilities and strategic management
Teece, Pisano & Shuen · 1997
Defines dynamic capabilities for sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring.
Theory. StrategyLimit: Broad construct; measurement and tautology risks.Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge
Argote & Miron-Spektor · 2011
Links organizational experience, context, knowledge, and learning outcomes.
Integrative review. Organizational learningLimit: Experience does not guarantee valid causal knowledge.Learning from Samples of One or Fewer
March, Sproull & Tamuz · 1991
Shows the difficulty of learning from samples of one or fewer.
Theory and cases. Organizational learningLimit: Interpretive cases, not a pooled causal estimate.Reactions towards organizational change: A systematic literature review
Khaw et al. · 2022
Synthesizes positive and negative reactions to organizational change.
Systematic review. Organizational changeLimit: Heterogeneous definitions and designs.The Power and Pitfalls of Social Norms
Miller & Prentice · 2025
Reviews social norms, norm inference, and behavior.
Annual Review. Social psychologyLimit: Norm perception can be inaccurate and context-specific.Solving coordination failure with all-or-none group-level incentives
Hamman, Rick & Weber · 2007
Group-level incentives can solve coordination failure while present, with limited persistence.
Laboratory experiment. Experimental economicsLimit: Laboratory groups and incentive removal limit generalization.Organizational readiness for change: A systematic review of the healthcare literature
Caci et al. · 2025
Reviews organizational readiness for change in the healthcare literature.
Systematic review. Healthcare implementation and changeLimit: Healthcare-specific evidence and instrument heterogeneity limit direct comparison.How to measure the status quo bias? A review of current literature
Godefroid et al. · 2023
Reviews status-quo bias definitions, measures, efficiency, and harm.
Review. Management researchLimit: Measurement choices can conflate rational persistence and bias.Assessing the impact of planned social change
Campbell · 1979
Measurement targets can distort decisions and behavior under pressure.
Conceptual paper. Policy evaluationLimit: Campbell's law is a warning, not a universal quantitative effect.The Psychology of Entrepreneurship: Action and Process
Frese & Gielnik · 2023
Opportunity discovery, evaluation, action, resource acquisition, and postlaunch activity can be understood as a recursive process rather than a single decision event.
Annual Review. Entrepreneurship psychologyLimit: Entrepreneurship-focused integrative review. It triangulates broad process logic but does not validate this map's 11 gates, their order, or the earliest-failed-gate rule.A 25-Year Review of Research on Feedback in Organizations: From Simple Rules to Complex Realities
Anseel & Sherf · 2025
Organizational feedback research contains distinct substreams with divergent assumptions, so generic feedback prescriptions can hide important contextual differences.
Annual Review. Organizational psychologyLimit: A broad integrative review of feedback, not direct evidence of metric gaming or a test of missed-opportunity learning.Experts and Expertise in Organizations: An Integrative Review on Individual Expertise
Rousseau & Stouten · 2025
Expertise is domain-specific and depends on the structure and quality of knowledge and practice; years of experience alone is an inconsistent proxy.
Integrative review. Organizational psychologyLimit: This is boundary evidence: it does not show that expertise generally causes fixation, and it cautions against treating experience as automatically rigid or harmful.Job Demands-Resources Theory: Ten Years Later
Bakker, Demerouti & Sanz-Vergel · 2023
High job demands and insufficient resources shape exhaustion and engagement, providing a mature account of load-resource pathways at work.
Annual Review. Work and organizational psychologyLimit: The review centers burnout and work engagement; it does not directly test opportunity loss, implementation failure, or change-portfolio saturation.Meta-review of implementation determinants for policies promoting healthy diet and physically active lifestyle: application of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
Lobczowska et al. · 2022
Across 25 reviews and 17 stakeholder documents, cost, external policy, structural characteristics, implementation climate, readiness, knowledge and beliefs, and interorganizational networking were repeatedly identified implementation determinants.
Meta-review. Health policy implementationLimit: Most included syntheses were qualitative, domains were health-policy specific, heterogeneity was substantial, and the review did not establish causal importance or determinant interactions.Built to last? Barriers and facilitators of healthcare program sustainability: a systematic integrative review
Zurynski et al. · 2023
Across 124 healthcare studies, inner setting, process, intervention characteristics, leadership, staffing, training, and funding were commonly reported in program sustainability.
Systematic integrative review. Healthcare implementationLimit: Healthcare-specific and largely observational; fewer than one quarter of studies assessed sustainability beyond five years and definitions were inconsistent.Evaluation of measures of sustainability and sustainability determinants for use in community, public health, and clinical settings: a systematic review
Hall et al. · 2022
Available sustainability measures vary substantially in content coverage, psychometric quality, and pragmatic quality.
Systematic review. Clinical, public health, and community implementationLimit: This evaluates measurement instruments, not whether a specific sustainment mechanism caused an outcome; quality varied and further measurement development was recommended.Quantitative measures of health policy implementation determinants and outcomes: a systematic review
Allen et al. · 2020
Seventy quantitative measures were identified, but few psychometric properties were reported and external-context measurement remained underdeveloped.
Systematic review. Health policy implementationLimit: Health-policy-specific measurement review; it does not establish mechanisms and found weak coverage of external context and limited psychometric testing.Ten years of implementation outcomes research: a scoping review
Proctor et al. · 2023
Implementation outcomes are increasingly described, but few studies test how strategies produce those outcomes or how implementation outcomes affect service and population outcomes.
Scoping review. Health and behavioral health implementationLimit: A scoping review of a healthcare-weighted literature; it maps evidence gaps rather than estimating effects and explicitly finds limited causal testing.Confidence Calibration in a Multiyear Geopolitical Forecasting Competition
Moore et al. · 2017
Across 494,552 probability forecasts on 344 geopolitical questions, structured forecasting with repeated scoring, feedback, training, and team interaction produced good calibration with a small amount of overconfidence.
Multi-year field study. Judgment and forecastingLimit: A structured forecasting tournament does not establish that every confident organizational claim is overconfident or that the same supports will transfer unchanged to a company decision.Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review
Frederick, Loewenstein & O'Donoghue · 2002
Reviews evidence showing that choices between immediate and delayed outcomes cannot be reduced to one stable discount rate; timing, framing, magnitude, and context can change preferences.
Critical review. Behavioral economics and intertemporal choiceLimit: A broad review of individual intertemporal choice does not prove that a delayed organizational benefit was undervalued; immediate costs and risks may be rational and material.Choice Overload: A Conceptual Review and Meta-Analysis
Chernev, Böckenholt & Goodman · 2015
Across 99 observations and 7,202 participants, larger assortments were more likely to produce overload when choice sets were complex, tasks were difficult, preferences were uncertain, or people aimed to minimize effort.
Meta-analysis. Consumer and decision psychologyLimit: More options are not inherently harmful, and most studies concern consumer choice rather than organizational portfolios or governance decisions.Pluralistic Ignorance in Corporate Boards and Firms' Strategic Persistence in Response to Low Firm Performance
Westphal & Bednar · 2005
Examines how directors can privately question a strategy while misperceiving other directors' beliefs, allowing strategic persistence despite low performance.
Organizational field study. Corporate governance and strategic decision makingLimit: Corporate boards are a specific, high-power setting; apparent agreement in another team may instead reflect genuine consensus, authority pressure, or missing information.Power in Management and Organization Science
Fleming & Spicer · 2014
Reviews power as coercion, manipulation, domination, and subjectification, and shows that power can operate through visible decisions as well as agendas, norms, and identities.
Integrative review. Management and organization studiesLimit: A broad conceptual review does not identify which power mechanism is operating in a specific case; actors, interests, decisions, and alternatives still need to be observed.Self-Efficacy and Work-Related Performance: A Meta-Analysis
Stajkovic & Luthans · 1998
Across 114 studies and 21,616 participants, self-efficacy was positively related to work performance, with substantial variation across tasks and settings.
Meta-analysis. Work and organizational psychologyLimit: Self-efficacy is a belief about capability, not capability itself; the heterogeneous association does not show that confidence training fixes a skill, resource, or workflow gap.Task-Technology Fit and Individual Performance
Goodhue & Thompson · 1995
Shows that technology is more likely to support performance when its capabilities fit the tasks users must perform, rather than when use or technical quality is considered alone.
Field study and measurement model. Information systems and work designLimit: The original study concerns individual performance and information systems; modern cross-functional workflows also require organizational, social, and process fit.Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change
Feldman & Pentland · 2003
Distinguishes the stated pattern of a routine from how people perform it, showing that routines can reproduce stability but also generate variation and change.
Theory synthesis. Organization theoryLimit: This is primarily boundary evidence: an old routine is not automatically rigid or harmful, and actual performances and dependencies must be examined.Goal Setting as a Motivator of Unethical Behavior
Schweitzer, Ordóñez & Douma · 2004
Participants with unmet specific goals were more likely to misreport performance than people instructed to do their best, showing one route through which targets can distort reported results.
Laboratory experiments. Organizational behavior and goal settingLimit: Laboratory tasks do not show that goals usually cause gaming; ethical climate, monitoring, target design, task uncertainty, and real incentives can change the effect.