We created the policy, so we don’t need to use it: a qualitative case study of consent policy implementation

Abstract

This case study describes how members of a dance production negotiated organizational consent by documenting the collaborative implementation of a ‘consent contract.’ This contract functioned as policy regarding appropriate touch and risk management within the production. Utilizing structurating activity theory (SAT), this study documents two system contradictions (i.e. safety versus skill building, protection versus production) and one structural contradiction (i.e. democracy versus dominance). These contradictions required participant negotiation and interaction. These interactions generated policy knowledge about consent (i.e. the contract provides partial license to discuss consent, production goals void consent contract voice, privileged identities supersede participatory contracts). Findings from this study build on SAT by delineating how organizational members negotiate knotted structural and systemic contradictions as a result of the consent contract. Theoretical contributions and applied recommendations regarding organizational consent, policy implementation, and member use are provided.

Department(s)

GRADUATE COLLEGE

Document Type

Article

DOI

10.1080/00909882.2025.2515870

Keywords

body work, Organizational consent, policy implementation, structurating activity theory

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Journal Title

Journal of Applied Communication Research

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS