Fabrizio Ferraro, Dror Etzion, and Joel Gehman explore a novel approach to addressing grand challenges through American pragmatism and the concept of robust action. They identify three robust strategies: participatory architecture, multivocal inscriptions, and distributed experimentation. These strategies enable organizations to tackle complex, uncertain, and evaluative issues like climate change and poverty. The paper emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of how organizational action influences field-level changes, particularly in addressing grand challenges. It highlights the importance of distributed action and the mechanisms linking it to novel solutions. The authors argue that robust action is consistent with pragmatism and offers generalizable prescriptions for tackling grand challenges. They propose a model of robust action for addressing grand challenges, emphasizing the establishment of participatory architecture, the design of multivocal inscriptions, and the pursuit of distributed experimentation. These strategies foster sustained engagement and positive outcomes by allowing for the emergence of novelty and the refinement of understanding. The paper concludes by discussing implications for research on stakeholder theory, institutional theory, and theories of valuation.Fabrizio Ferraro, Dror Etzion, and Joel Gehman explore a novel approach to addressing grand challenges through American pragmatism and the concept of robust action. They identify three robust strategies: participatory architecture, multivocal inscriptions, and distributed experimentation. These strategies enable organizations to tackle complex, uncertain, and evaluative issues like climate change and poverty. The paper emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of how organizational action influences field-level changes, particularly in addressing grand challenges. It highlights the importance of distributed action and the mechanisms linking it to novel solutions. The authors argue that robust action is consistent with pragmatism and offers generalizable prescriptions for tackling grand challenges. They propose a model of robust action for addressing grand challenges, emphasizing the establishment of participatory architecture, the design of multivocal inscriptions, and the pursuit of distributed experimentation. These strategies foster sustained engagement and positive outcomes by allowing for the emergence of novelty and the refinement of understanding. The paper concludes by discussing implications for research on stakeholder theory, institutional theory, and theories of valuation.