Chad Navis

Categories, Identities, and Cultural Classification: Moving Beyond a Model of Categorical Constraint

Categorization processes have gained currency in organizational theory. Categories are endemic to organizations and markets, serving as touchstones for organizational identity claims and for audience attention, legitimation, and valuation. Durand and Paolella argue for an expansion of current perspectives on categories, particularly that of prototype theory. Although we agree in spirit, we advocate an expansion of their perspective, which seems to focus primarily on the cognitive aspects of categorization and the force of their constraint, particularly at the individual level of analysis. We suggest three revisions to Durand and Paolellas arguments in order to extend the conversation. First, we advocate that categorization processes might usefully be understood by socio‐cultural perspectives that explicitly consider the role of audiences and the embeddedness of categories in wider classification systems. Second, we connect categorization processes to identity formation and maintenance at the levels of both the organization and the market. Third, we move beyond the constraining power of categories to consider their generative capabilities in processes of emergence and change. Overall, we discuss these in the context of organizational identities and cultural classification systems.

Entrepreneurship, institutional emergence, and organizational leadership: tuning in to “the next big thing” in satellite radio

Selznick (1957) differentiated between institutional leadership, concerned with organizational identity and character, and administrative management, concerned with organizational operations or efficiencies. We investigated the timing and extent of each of these by leaders of new ventures during market emergence. Examining the case of satellite radio, we analyzed 235 executive statements in 244 press releases, 1998–2005, for the start-ups, XM and Sirius. We found that leaders, across the organizational hierarchy and over time, interpreted entrepreneurial action in terms of the ventures identity, but institutional leadership was primarily associated with CEOs and administrative management with lower echelon executives. Institutional leadership was higher during market emergence and commercialization, while administrative management increased with the growth and establishment of satellite radio as a market category.

Types of Value, Governance Mechanisms and Business Models for Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces

We build on existing research on multi-sided platforms, recent studies of the sharing economy as well as illustrative examples to draw attention to the diverse, and undertheorized, nature of value ...