Our recent study, published in the Journal of Management Studies, is based on a 20-year observation of institutional change in Algeria, North Africa. We explored how a family-owned company succeeded in modernizing agriculture and triggering significant institutional change by collaborating with public authorities and farmers to tackle national food insecurity. This case offers new insights into the role of intentionality—the ideas we hold in mind—in shaping change-oriented action.

What did we study, and why is that important?

How do actors’ intentions emerge, evolve, and gradually shift toward a purposeful desire to change existing institutions? That is the primary concern of our study. Institutional change theory implicitly or explicitly recognizes the role of intentionality but often treats it as static or predetermined. In this vein, our understanding remains limited as most existing scholarly work assumes that intentions are identifiable prior to change.

Instead, our study highlights intentionality as something that emerges, evolves, and sharpens over time. Building on Husserl’s phenomenological philosophy, we show that intentions are influenced by how actors direct their attention (attentionality) and how affection (emotional triggers) sharpen this focus. We believe this reconceptualization is essential to better understand how actors come to engage in change projects.

How did we study it?

We conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study of Benamor, an agri-food business in Algeria, that contributed to modernizing the country’s agricultural sector between 2000 and 2019. Building on extensive interviews, observations, and archival data, we could trace how the CEO’s intentions developed from a practical business problem (ensuring tomato supply) to broader institutional aims (public-private partnerships, regulatory change, and national development). As identified in the study, we analyzed the trajectory of change through four phases of evolving intentionality, identifying key shifts in attention and action.

Why did we study it?

Our study did not begin with theory. Instead, it started with a question generated by intriguing observations: how did Benamor manage to bring about real change in agriculture when others, including public authorities, could not? What made his approach different, and how did he make it work? As we tried to make sense of what we were observing on the ground and answer these seemingly simple questions, we realized that intentionality and attentionality were central to how Benamor was able to drive change.

What did we find?

Our study reveals, we said, that intentionality is not fixed or fully formed at the outset of change but, instead, it tends to unfold gradually through a sequence marked by four interrelated elements:

1. Passive intentions are latent ideas or concerns that are not yet clearly articulated or acted upon.
2. Affection refers to emotional or contextual triggers (e.g., crises, validation from others, experience-related feedback) that direct attention toward certain aspects.
3. Attentional conversion is a key mechanism of focus on specific aspects of reality that leads actors to prioritize and act, and thus to move from passive intentions (mere ideas) to active intentions (action).
4. Active intentions should be considered as the deliberate goals and actions directed toward institutional change.

This recursive cycle illustrates how actors shift from latent thoughts to focused, change-oriented action. In this way, it highlights the dynamics of intentionality as both evolving and co-constructed with outcomes in terms of change. Although it was already understood that institutional change is found and clarified in the doing, our research clarifies how this discovery process develops with time.

Why and how do these findings matter, and for whom?

Our findings matter on several levels. First, for scholars, our study and its results expand the understanding of agency in institutional theory. It challenges common assumptions according to which intention precedes action. We show instead how intentionality is assembled through experience, attention, and feedback. Second, for leaders, change agents, and policymakers, our work shows that grand change agendas often begin as modest intentions that evolve as actors engage cognitively and emotionally with their environment. It is therefore through the recognition and support of such emergent processes that profound change can occur. This process is particularly visible in fast-changing emerging economies, hence the relevance of our empirical field of study.

What are the key actionable takeaways?

Our study offers a few practical takeaways for those looking to drive change in their environments:

• Rethink what drives change: From the beginning, intentions might not be obvious or clear. Rather, they might be vague and hesitant. But change often starts with quiet thought, little ideas, and regular attention changes, which does not imply that nothing is happening.
• Support attention: Sustained attention to problems and ideas is what transforms vague thoughts into actionable strategies.
• Embrace discovery: It is not only natural but also possibly essential to let intentions evolve as new results change one’s point of view. Along these lines, environmental awareness is a key component of this evolution.