Fabrizio Castellucci

What's in It for Them? Advantages of Higher-Status Partners in Exchange Relationships

This article explores the motivations that high-status firms have to enter exchange relationships with lower-status partners. We argue that high-status firms can secure greater effort from lower-st...

Status in Organization and Management Theory

Status is a pervasive construct in the organizational literature, and a recent surge in interest in the topic testifies to its potential as a field of study. In this article, we review the existing studies on status, and we propose an integrative classification framework based on two distinct dimensions: the level of analysis—macro, meso, or micro—and the role status hierarchies play in extant research. We do so with a view to clarifying the status construct, differentiating it from the cognate concept of reputation, and clearly stating the ways in which status dynamics could inform organizational scholars and their research efforts. We conclude by highlighting underdeveloped theoretical intersections and suggesting potentially fruitful directions for future inquiry.

Choosing Ties from the Inside of a Prism: Egocentric Uncertainty and Status in Venture Capital Markets

This chapter draws an analytical distinction between altercentric and egocentric uncertainty. Altercentric uncertainty refers to the uncertainty that buyers face about the product quality of a focal producer (ego). Egocentric uncertainty refers to the uncertainty that the producer itself faces about the resource allocation decisions that will result in a product that is regarded as high quality by buyers. This chapter then argues that the value that a firm derives from its own status is positively related to altercentric uncertainty and negatively related to egocentric uncertainty. That is, status is valuable when buyers can use it as a signal of quality, but status is not valuable when a producer does not know how to’ spend’ its status to produce quality. As a consequence, high status producers should seek out markets or market segments where egocentric uncertainty is low. This argument and hypothesis are tested in an examination of the venture capital markets.

Exacerbation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by passive transfer of IgG antibodies from a multiple sclerosis patient responsive to immunoadsorption

The pathogenic role of antibodies in multiple sclerosis (MS) is still controversial. We transferred to mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), animal model of MS, IgG antibodies purified from a MS patient presenting a dramatic clinical improvement during relapse after selective IgG removal with immunoadsorption. Passive transfer of patients IgG exacerbated motor paralysis and increased mouse central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and demyelination. Binding of patients IgG was demonstrated in mouse CNS, with a diffuse staining of white matter oligodendrocytes. These data support a growing body of evidence that antibodies can play an important role in the pathobiology of MS.

Who shall get more? How intangible assets and aspiration levels affect the valuation of resource providers

In this study, we identify the effects of reputation and status by determining how they are differently valued by organizations that are concurrently pursuing different goals. Building on research on intangible assets and on aspiration levels, we develop a framework to explain organizations’ valuation of resource providers. We expect organizations to value resource providers who possess a specific type of intangible asset higher as their performance, relative to aspirations, decreases on the outcome more closely tied to that particular asset. We also expect to observe this sensitivity primarily when the organization has a low level of the intangible asset in question. Based on this framework, we derive specific hypotheses using the differential relationships between reputation and status, as two types of intangible assets, and product quality and revenues, as two types of goals. We find support for our hypotheses using a longitudinal dataset on National Basketball Association teams and players.

Wishing Upon a Star: How apprentice-master similarity, status and career stage affect critics’ evaluations of former apprentices in the haute cuisine industry

This article explores how the similarity between a master’s and former apprentice’s products influences critics’ evaluations of creative professionals’ work. Through apprenticeships with well-known masters, creative professionals manage the competing demands for novelty and familiarity typical of creative industries and find their optimal balance. To gain positive evaluations, creative workers must demonstrate their offerings’ comparability with their former master’s, yet some degrees of novelty. An analysis of international haute cuisine chefs reveals an inverted U-shaped relationship between similarity of apprentice’s and master’s products, and critics’ evaluations. Furthermore, the analysis shows that apprenticeships with high-status masters and those that occur late in the apprentice’s career change this inverted U-shaped relationship into a positive one. The article concludes by highlighting the consequences of being a mainstream or a maverick with respect to the master in the creative industry and by discussing possible strategies for creative professionals to gain critics’ recognition.