An Audience Heterogeneity View of Markets: Contributions, Tensions, and Agenda for Future Research
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Producers’ resource allocation, performance, and survival depend on how market audiences identify, evaluate, and value them. While research has focused on producers’ heterogeneity, it has not consistently addressed audiences’ heterogeneity despite its critical consequences on producers’ decisions and market dynamics. This review integrates three research perspectives—ecological, socio-cognitive, and optimal distinctiveness—to offer a clearer comprehension of audience heterogeneity. It distinguishes between-audience heterogeneity from within-audience heterogeneity and regroups existing but scattered findings under two audience heterogeneity dimensions: audience plasticity and audience multiplexity. Avenues for research build on these distinctions and underscore the relationships between audience heterogeneity and market temporality, individual reactions (e.g., rooted in ideology and emotions), and technology (in particular AI-enhanced categorization).
Source: Journal of Management
Authors: Kata Isenring, Rodolphe Durand, Tomi Laamanen
Institutions: University of St.Gallen, HEC Paris
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
OpenAlex ID: W4407175213