Contrary to existing studies emphasizing how logics compete and conflict, this study presents a case of complementary logics. Drawing on a rich qualitative case study of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), this paper illuminates how seemingly opposite field-level logics may converge over time through attempts to attain and sustain an organization’s mission. More specifically, the study highlights how institutional voids created institutional complexity by constraining AWF in achieving its conservation mission, how these voids prompted AWF to explore the compatibility between seemingly opposite logics and how its actions resulted in an organizational mission underpinned by an expanding, complementary logic constellation. The case findings suggest that such hybridization may bring new symbolic capital to mobilize resources, but may also create legitimacy threats when institutional referents emphasize the oppositional base of the combined logics when holding the organization accountable for its actions. Overall, the paper contributes to the emergent complexity response strategy literature by uncovering the interplay between logics, voids and agency in understanding the hybridization of organizations.
