In an era of multiple crises, alternative organizations seek to address contemporary challenges as prefigurative models challenging mainstream practices. However, the field’s diversity complicates its conceptualization. This article explores the question: How can the literature on alternative organizations be framed to unite fragmented research streams and establish a shared agenda? Through a critical review of the literature, we propose an organizing framework structured along two axes: (1) goals—ranging from internal worker empowerment to external socio-economic impact, and (2) modes of action—emerging versus established structures. This framework identifies four ideal types: freelancer self-organizing, sustainable entrepreneuring, flat organizations, and social organizations. Using a semi-systematic PRISMA-based literature review (144 articles), we thus synthesize existing research, identify ongoing debates, and propose future directions for each ideal type. Additionally, we uncover hybridization dynamics between the four ideal types, shaped by two key tensions (formalization vs inspiration ; politicization vs trivialization). The main contribution of our article is to propose a new and unified agenda to advance research on alternative organizations.
