Although recent literature on hybrids has been flourishing, the question of how hybrids emerge and progressively gain influence over a complex and turbulent field remains under-researched. In this paper, we seek to address this gap. To do so, we engaged in an inductive study of a hybrid organization emerging in an original empirical context: the field of equal opportunities in France. Equal opportunities reflect herein a socio-political will in reducing social inequalities, especially for young people, and in contributing thus to social inclusion. But this malleable concept may be interpreted in several ways, supported by different competing institutional logics (Friedland & Alford, 1991; Thornton et al., 2012). The resulting institutional complexity (Greenwood et al., 2011; Besharov & Smith, 2014) creates both tensions and opportunities for hybrid organizations. Moreover, literature suggests that managing organizational tensions is particularly challenging in situations of environmental turbulence (Reay & Hinings, 2009; Ramus et al., 2017). Our results show that environmental turbulence and emotions (Toubiana & Zietsma, 2017) also open opportunities for strategic hybrid organizations to become visible actors in the field and influence the competing institutional logics through active interactions and involvement within the field.
