Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Economic growth is associated with market dynamics based on new products and ideas. However, products that do not fit into the established market structure face risks, including being overlooked, undervalued, and failing. To overcome those risks, organizations can try to influence emergence of new market structures with which to be associated. My dissertation draws on theories related to organizational strategy, institutions, market categories, and social movements to examine how organizations engage in processes of market emergence. My dissertation deploys a social constructionist perspective wherein it is through social interactions and socio-cognitive processes that market structures emerge. Using this lens, I examine choices by organizations and external reactions to them by focusing on environments in which interactions are likely. The first study examines the strategic choice to claim a label by members of an emerging market category. We introduce the concept of proximate social space to examine the responsiveness of organizations to their external environment defined by either geography or market segment. In the context of a niche nonprofit practice in the U.S., we find that organizations choose to be early claimants of a label relative to their local geographic region, even as they exhibit awareness of their peers within their market segment. The second study examines the activities social movement organizations can use to increase awareness and market demand for certified products. Research on social movements has identified product certifications as a means for influencing the market, however certifications require awareness to function as intended. In a series of chapters using the context of LEED certification for environmentally-friendly buildings, I examine the strategies that social movement organizations can use to influence awareness of their certification, and the relationship between awareness and demand for that certification in the local geographic regions where interactions occur. I conclude by identifying both theoretical and practical implications based on the insights in each of the chapters.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Burshell, Jessica Lynn
Institution: University of Toronto
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2885868084