意义建构在应对跨界创业悖论式困境中的作用：一项定性研究

Abstract

This study takes China's film industry as the context and selects the development process of the animated film series "Three Kingdoms: Starlit Heroes" as a typical case to explore how cross-boundary entrepreneurs use sensemaking theory to address paradoxical dilemmas. Adopting a longitudinal single-case study method combined with ethnographic participant observation, the research tracks the project's 18-month development process, analyzing how founders with real estate backgrounds mediate cognitive conflicts between "insiders" and "outsiders" in the film industry.
The study systematically traces and deeply analyzes the dynamic sensemaking process across four developmental stages (initiation, execution, delay, and escalation), each corresponding to how four key paradoxical dilemmas were addressed: the Paradox of Learning, Paradox of Organizing, Paradox of Performing, and Paradox of Belonging. Specific manifestations include: In the first stage (learning paradox), conflicts emerged between outsiders breaking rules and insiders following industry conventions; In the second stage (organizing paradox), clashes occurred between outsiders' innovative processes and insiders' creative concepts, leading to power distribution conflicts; In the third stage (performance paradox), under the impact of "Nezha 2"'s 10-billion-yuan box office success, tensions erupted between outsiders' "fast-cycle product delivery" and insiders' pursuit of "high-quality product presentation"; In the fourth stage (belonging paradox), cross-boundary entrepreneurs faced the dilemma of "work-oriented" versus "product-oriented" thinking, requiring identity reexamination.
The findings reveal that sensemaking helps address paradoxical dilemmas, showing progressive co-evolutionary characteristics. The founder applied different combinations of sensemaking and sensegiving mechanisms across the four stages to resolve paradoxes step-by step: establishing legitimacy for "rapid-cycle experimentation" during the learning paradox phase; implementing a "producer-centered system" during the organizing paradox phase; crosshierarchical sense-revising prompted a minor project delay during the performance paradox phase.; and completing identity reconstruction from "process manager" to "creative manager" during the belonging paradox phase. The study uncovers the multidirectional fluidity of sensemaking, including top-down, bidirectional parallel, bottom-up reverse sensegiving, and cross-organizational extension to ecosystem partners, providing new perspectives for understanding coordination challenges in cross-boundary entrepreneurship.
This study makes three main contributions: First, it innovatively introduces a paradox perspective to cross-boundary entrepreneurship research, revealing the dynamic evolution of learning, organizing, performing and belonging paradoxes, and proposing a "paradox nesting" mechanism—where early paradox resolution outcomes become the foundation for addressing more complex contradictions later, breaking through the limitation of traditional research that examines paradoxes in isolation. Second, it contributes to sensemaking theory by refining the combined application of five mechanisms (cognitive framing, language, emotion, context, and identity), revealing how cross-level, cross-organizational sensemaking ecological networks coordinate contradictions, and contributing to the analysis of sensemaking processes in cross-level subject interactions. Based on empirical materials, it extracts new concepts such as "sense revising" and "upward sensegiving," inspiring future research. Third, it contributes to practice in the film industry and cross-boundary entrepreneurship, providing the industry with a localized case study of "process reengineering" and "producer-centered system" development, while offering cross-boundary entrepreneurs methods of sensemaking and sensegiving to help transform external perspectives into innovative advantages.

Date of Award	19 May 2025
Original language	Chinese (Simplified)
Awarding Institution	China Europe International Business School
Supervisor	Weiru Chen (Supervisor) & Tian Zhu (Supervisor)