Social legitimacy versus distinctiveness: Mapping the place of consumers in the mental representations of managers in an institutionalized environment

Arts festivals in general, and music festivals in particular, struggle to formulate strategy in the face of the often-conflicting demands of the commercial marketplace and the sponsors, who are typically state organizations. Commercialization and profit motivations demand differentiation, but recognition and acceptance by society often requires conformity to a set of rules that often conflict with these aims. This struggle is said to be between distinctiveness (in the marketplace) and legitimacy (in the eyes of the society as represented by sponsoring institutions). This research uses cognitive mapping techniques to uncover the role that consumers have within the representations of strategists within two music festival organizations. One festival operates in an open, commercial market while the other in an institutionalized environment. Centrality of consumers within the thought-maps of strategists and the mental associations they have to their consumers, reveal how managers struggle with this strategic dichotomy.