In 2006, Richard Whittington, the main author of the research stream named strategy as practice, published the paper "Completing the practice turn in strategy research". In that work it was introduced an analysis framework that, purposely, would complete the turn of the practice in this research area considering different practice levels (micro and macro). However, critics were done and are still been done to the studies realized about this perspective, what shows the need to evaluate how it is going the practice turn in the strategy studies. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to analyze the practice turn in strategy studies, as about the main characteristics as about the finalization of this cycle considering that approach such as a social movement. Regarding the method, it was chosen the not reactive research of existent documents (secondary data) (NEUMAN, 1997). From such method it were selected the main journals of the Administration and Strategy area according the Journal Citation Reports, looking for those with the most impact factor. Whit a sample containing 59 papers, the social movement of the strategy as practice was analyzed according the three moments suggested by Hambrick and Chen (2009): differentiation, mobilization and legitimacy construction. The results allow concluding: 1. the practice turn in strategy field consists to relate the corporeity of the social actors, their goals and ways to use it, their knowledge, skills, emotion states and motivations related to practice; 2. this turn is concentrated, in relational terms, in the researchers R. Whittington and P. Jarzabkowski, with works, predominantly, oriented and arrested to the old vocabulary of the regulation sociology; 3. regarding the achievement or completing of the turn practice, as it was allegedly placed by Whittington (2006), it is possible to conclude that the practice turn in strategy studies are not completed, in that it examines the practices relatively in an organizational vacuum. Soon, it is necessary to recuperate the organization in the practice study, redefining the term "organization" itself in this social movement.
Strategy as practice; Social movement; Practice turn; Contemporary social theories; Institutional link
