Are we still on the same page? How a blended strategy implementation style impacts strategic plan commitment within politically diverse representative governing boards

Although within-group strategic plan commitment is deemed important to enhance cooperation and strategy implementation success, diverging strategic views rooted in the political diversity can impede such unity. Given that political diversity in representative governing boards requires more continuous interactions and adjustments to construe and conserve a feasible compromise, while strategy implementation success relies more on a formal rational planning approach embodied in strategic planning, an implementation style that combines both incremental and rational aspects is argued to be quintessential to avoid failure. However, research studying such interplay in a politicized environment is virtually non-existent. Therefore, this study analyzes, based on multisource data of 440 local councilors nested in 152 local authorities’ governing boards, if political diversity and a blended strategy implementation style have an opposite impact on within-group strategic plan commitment, and if these relationships are mediated by task conflict and perceived implementation success. Results confirm this overarching idea.