Typecasting, Legitimation, and Form Emergence: A Formal Theory*

We propose a formal theory of multiple category memberships. This theory has the potential to unify two seemingly unconnected theories: typecasting and identity-based form emergence. Typecasting, a producer-level theory, considers the consequences of specializing versus spanning across category boundaries. Identity-based form emergence considers the evolution of categories and how the attributes of producers entering a category shape its likelihood of gaining legitimacy among relevant audiences. Both theory fragments treat the processes by which audience members assign category memberships to producers. This article develops this common foundation and outlines the arguments that lead to central implications of each theory. The arguments are formalized using modal expressions to represent key categorization processes according to the theory-building framework developed by Hannan et al. (2007).

[1]  H. Rao,et al.  Out of tune: The rise and fall of modernistic music in Brussels, 1919–1939 , 2012 .

[2]  Brayden G. King,et al.  Identity Realization and Organizational Forms: Differentiation and Consolidation of Identities Among Arizona's Charter Schools , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[3]  Olav Sorenson,et al.  The Ratings Game: Asymmetry in Classification , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[4]  Steven J. Kahl,et al.  Identity sequences and the early adoption pattern of a jazz canon, 1920–1929 , 2010 .

[5]  Sandy Bogaert,et al.  Organizational form emergence and competing professional schemata of Dutch accounting, 1884–1939 , 2010 .

[6]  M. Lounsbury,et al.  Category currency: The changing value of conformity as a function of ongoing meaning construction , 2010 .

[7]  Michael Jensen,et al.  Legitimizing Illegitimacy: How Creating Market Identity Legitimizes Illegitimate Products , 2010 .

[8]  H. Rao,et al.  Categorical contrast and audience appeal: niche width and critical success in winemaking , 2010 .

[9]  M. Hannan.  Partiality of Memberships in Categories and Audiences , 2010 .

[10]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  Modalities in Sociological Arguments , 2010 .

[11]  M. Hannan,et al.  The consequences of category spanning depend on contrast , 2010 .

[12]  Martin Ruef,et al.  Credit and Classification: The Impact of Industry Boundaries in Nineteenth-Century America , 2009 .

[13]  M. Hannan,et al.  Audience Structure and the Development of Schemas and Category Systems in Markets , 2009 .

[14]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  Multiple Category Memberships in Markets: An Integrative Theory and Two Empirical Tests , 2009 .

[15]  M. Hannan,et al.  Modal Constructions in Sociological Arguments , 2009 .

[16]  David G. McKendrick,et al.  Organizational evolution with fuzzy technological formats: tape drive producers in the world market, 1951–1998 , 2008 .

[17]  Marc Schneiberg,et al.  Social Movements and Organizational Form: Cooperative Alternatives to Corporations in the American Insurance, Dairy, and Grain Industries , 2008 .

[18]  P. Roberts,et al.  Local and Non-local Pre-founding Experience and New Organizational Form Penetration: The Case of the Israeli Wine Industry , 2008 .

[19]  M. T. Kennedy,et al.  Getting Counted: Markets, Media, and Reality , 2008 .

[20]  G. Cattani,et al.  The Structure of Consensus: Network Ties, Legitimation, and Exit Rates of U.S. Feature Film Producer Organizations , 2008 .

[21]  Elizabeth G. Pontikes.  Fitting in or starting new? An analysis of invention, constraint, and the emergence of new categories in the software industry , 2008 .

[22]  Erin E Leahey,et al.  Not by Productivity Alone: How Visibility and Specialization Contribute to Academic Earnings , 2007 .

[23]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  The fates of De Novo and De Alio producers in the American Automobile Industry 1885–1981 , 2007 .

[24]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies , 2007 .

[25]  Beth A. Bechky,et al.  Stretchwork: Managing the Career Progression Paradox in External Labor Markets , 2006 .

[26]  Greta Hsu.  Jacks of All Trades and Masters of None: Audiences' Reactions to Spanning Genres in Feature Film Production , 2006 .

[27]  Rodolphe Durand,et al.  Border Crossing: Bricolage and the Erosion of Categorical Boundaries in French Gastronomy , 2005 .

[28]  Mark Thomas Kennedy,et al.  Behind the one-way mirror: Refraction in the construction of product market categories , 2005 .

[29]  Felix Schlenk,et al.  Proof of Theorem 3 , 2005 .

[30]  Greta Hsu,et al.  Identities, Genres, and Organizational Forms , 2005 .

[31]  Hayagreeva Rao,et al.  Sources of Durability and Change in Market Classifications: A Study of the Reconstitution of Product Categories in the American Mutual Fund Industry, 1944-1985 , 2004 .

[32]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  A logic for theories in flux: a model-theoretic approach , 2004 .

[33]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  The Organizational Niche* , 2003 .

[34]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  The critical trade‐off: identity assignment and box‐office success in the feature film industry , 2003 .

[35]  H. Rao,et al.  Institutional Change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle Cuisine as an Identity Movement in French Gastronomy1 , 2003, American Journal of Sociology.

[36]  M. Ruef,et al.  The Emergence of Organizational Forms: A Community Ecology Approach1 , 2000, American Journal of Sociology.

[37]  G. Carroll,et al.  Why the Microbrewery Movement? Organizational Dynamics of Resource Partitioning in the U.S. Brewing Industry1 , 2000, American Journal of Sociology.

[38]  Steven Klepper,et al.  Dominance by birthright: entry of prior radio producers and competitive ramifications in the U. S. , 2000 .

[39]  Michael Hannan,et al.  Foundations of a Theory of Social Forms , 2000 .

[40]  David G. McKendrick,et al.  In the Bud? Disk Array Producers as a (Possibly) Emergent Organizational Form , 2000 .

[41]  David G. McKendrick,et al.  On the Genesis of Organizational Forms: Evidence from the Market for Disk Arrays , 2000 .

[42]  David G. McKendrick.  On the Genesis of Organizational Forms : Evidence from the Market for Disk Drive Arrays * , 2000 .

[43]  J. Porac,et al.  Sociocognitive Dynamics in a Product Market , 1999 .

[44]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  The Categorical Imperative: Securities Analysts and the Illegitimacy Discount , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[45]  Stanislav D. Dobrev,et al.  Organizational mortality in European and American automobile industries. Part I : Revisiting the effects of age and size , 1998 .

[46]  H. Rao.  The Social Construction of Reputation: Certification Contests, Legitimation, and the Survival of Organizations in the American Automobile Industry: 1895–1912 , 1994 .

[47]  Will Mitchell,et al.  The Dynamics of Evolving Markets: The Effects of Business Sales and Age on Dissolutions and Divestitures , 1994 .

[48]  Joel Podolny.  Market Uncertainty and the Social Character of Economic Exchange , 1994 .

[49]  Samuel B. Bacharach,et al.  Research In The Sociology Of Organizations , 1998 .

[50]  David G. McKendrick,et al.  Organizational Evolution with Fuzzy Technological Boundaries: Tape Drive Producers in the World Market, 1951-1998 , 2008 .

[51]  Joel Podolny.  A Status-Based Model of Market Competition , 1993, American Journal of Sociology.

[52]  Elaine Romanelli,et al.  THE EVOLUTION OF NEW ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS , 1991 .

[53]  C. Fombrun,et al.  What's in a Name? Reputation Building and Corporate Strategy , 1990 .

[54]  E. M. Leifer,et al.  Interaction Preludes to Role Setting: Exploratory Local Action. , 1988 .

[55]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  The Ecology of Organizational Mortality: American Labor Unions, 1836-1985 , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[56]  Kate Huddleston.  MUSIC ON DEMAND: COMPOSERS AND CAREERS IN THE HOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY, Robert R. Faulkner, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1983. 281 pp. $24.95 (cloth). , 1987 .

[57]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  Where do organizational forms come from? , 1985 .

[58]  Richard S. Varga,et al.  Proof of Theorem 5 , 1983 .

[59]  R. Varga,et al.  Proof of Theorem 4 , 1983 .

[60]  R. Varga,et al.  Proof of Theorem 2 , 1983 .

[61]  Robert R. Faulkner,et al.  Music on Demand: Composers and Careers in the Hollywood Film Industry , 1982 .

[62]  H. White,et al.  Where Do Markets Come From? , 1981, American Journal of Sociology.

[63]  R. Nisbett,et al.  Culture and Cognition , 2002 .