Not Just Small Potatoes: Cultural Entrepreneurship in the Moralizing of Markets

2021 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Hedberg, Leanne M.; Lounsbury, Michael

Abstract: While there is a growing literature on moral markets that aim to create social v ... Expand

Abstract: While there is a growing literature on moral markets that aim to create social value through market exchange, much of it has focused on how producer activism is able to legitimate new, institutionally complex, organizational and economic forms that are inscribed with competing market and social/community logics. Much less attention has been directed towards understanding how moral markets are scaled by the entry of large, established organizations. While the scaling of moral markets entails the risk of conservative goal transformation, we still know relatively little about how moral values become embedded in markets, providing an ongoing catalyst for social value creation. Based on a five-year ethnographic study, we show how cultural entrepreneurship associated with the creation of a cross-sector partnership, legitimated local food procurement by large, established organizations, enabling the scaling of the overall market. We argue that a key aspect of their success had to do with bridging the institutional void segregating local and industrial food logics. Based on our study, we highlight how this institutional void bridging was facilitated by cultural entrepreneurship that initially focused on communications that decoupled the values and practices associated with the local food logic, and subsequently, reinfused locavore values by valorizing stories and activities that recoupled those values to food procurement practices after the institutional void was diminished. We discuss the implications of our study for research on moral markets and cultural entrepreneurship. Collapse

Topics: procurement management entrepreneurship supply chain management brainstorming

Methods: field study qualitative interview archival research ethnography participant observation

Market Competition and the Effectiveness of Performance Pay

2021 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Khashabi, Pooyan; Heinz, Matthias; Zubanov, Nick; Kretschmer, Tobias; Friebel, Guido

Abstract: It is well established that the effectiveness of pay-for-performance (PfP) schem ... Expand

Abstract: It is well established that the effectiveness of pay-for-performance (PfP) schemes depends on employee- and organization-specific factors. However, less is known about the moderating role of external forces such as market competition. Our theory posits that competition generates two counteracting effects—the residual market and competitor response effects—that vary with competition and jointly generate a curvilinear relationship between PfP effectiveness and competition. Weak competition discourages effort response to PfP because there is little residual market to gain from rivals, whereas strong competition weakens incentives because an offsetting response from competitors becomes more likely. PfP hence has the strongest effect under moderate competition. Field data from a bakery chain and its competitive environment confirm our theory and let us refute several alternative interpretations. Collapse

Topics: innovation management on-premises software service quality

Methods: field experiment difference in differences theory development robustness check descriptive statistic

Theories: transaction cost economics expectancy theory of motivation

Psychological Factors Predicting Organic Food Consumption in Social Commerce

2021 | HICSS | Citations: 0

Authors: Vo, Kim; Laukkanen, Tommi

Abstract: This paper examines consumer perceptions of the purchase of organic food in soci ... Expand

Abstract: This paper examines consumer perceptions of the purchase of organic food in social commerce. We extend the Theory of Planned Behavior to perceived information usefulness and the perceived consequences of s-commerce use. We empirically test our hypothesized conceptual model among 261 consumers in market conditions with limited access to organic food products via conventional grocery stores. The results show that the perceived usefulness of organic food information in s-commerce has a highly significant effect both on the consumer attitude to using s-commerce and on the subjective norm. Perceived consequences influence the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, but not on attitude. Attitude and the subjective norm significantly predict the consumer’s intention to use s-commerce for organic food purchases; perceived behavioral control does not. Our results highlight the importance of information in social commerce as a driver of purchasing, especially in markets offering little product information and availability in conventional channels. Collapse

Topics: usage intention perceived usefulness social commerce Facebook social media

Methods: survey partial least squares path modeling factor analysis conceptual modelling survey design

Theories: theory of planned behavior

Market Mediators and the Trade-offs of Legitimacy-Seeking Behaviors in a Nascent Category

2017 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Lee, Brandon H.; Hiatt, Shon R.; Lounsbury, Michael

Abstract: Although existing research has demonstrated the importance of attaining legitima ... Expand

Abstract: Although existing research has demonstrated the importance of attaining legitimacy for new market categories, few scholars have considered the trade-offs associated with such actions. Using the U.S. organic food product category as a context, we explore how one standards-based certification organization—the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)—sought to balance efforts to legitimate a nascent market category with retaining a shared, distinctive identity among its members. Our findings suggest that legitimacy-seeking behaviors undertaken by the standards organization diluted the initial collective identity and founding ethos of its membership. However, by shifting the meaning of “organic” from the producer to the product, CCOF was able to strengthen the categorical boundary, thereby enhancing its legitimacy. By showing how the organization managed the associated trade-offs, this study highlights the double-edged nature of legitimacy and offers important implications for the literatures on legitimacy and new market category formation. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1126. Collapse

Topics: authorization entrepreneurship agriculture information system

Methods: qualitative interview longitudinal research grounded theory theory development archival research