This paper integrates two perspectives on why producers who span categories suffer social and/or economic disadvantage. According to the audience-side perspective, audience members refer to established categories to make sense of producers; they perceive producers who incorporate features from...

This paper introduces modal logics to a sociological audience. We first provide an overview of the formal properties of this family of models and outline key differences with classical first-order logic. We then build a model to represent processes of perception and belief core to social...

We develop a unifying framework to integrate two of organizational sociology’s theory fragments on categorization: typecasting and form emergence. Typecasting is a producer-level theory that considers the consequences producers face for specializing versus spanning across category boundaries....

This paper introduces modal logics to a sociological audience. We first provide an overview of the formal properties of this family of models and outline key differences with classical first-order logic. We then build a model to represent processes of perception and belief core to social...

We develop a unifying framework to integrate two of organizational sociology's theory fragments on categorization: typecasting and form emergence. Typecasting is a producer-level theory that considers the consequences producers face for specializing versus spanning across category boundaries....

Research suggests there are significant market penalties for organizations that do not conform to category boundaries in their product offerings. Yet, organizations continue to span categories despite these risks. In this study, we shed insight into why by examining factors that shape the...

We examine how the life chances and financial performance of nascent high-technology firms were affected by two kinds of organizational changes: altering founders' blueprints for the employment relation and replacing a founder--chief executive officer (CEO) by an outsider. We argue that both...

This article explores the constraints evaluative schemas place on critics' allocation of attention. Prior research suggests that a critic's ability to establish himself as an expert of the market is based on the appeal to a rationalized and defensible system of standards for evaluating products....

Notwithstanding the observed positive correlations between critics' quality ratings and wine prices, the range of these correlations is quite high. In light of this, researchers must consider the factors that either strengthen or weaken the association between quality ratings and prices. In this...

Entrepreneurs that were employed by successful industry incumbents prior to founding tend to confer advantages on their new organizations. We propose and then demonstrate a similar "network progeny" effect rooted in the social relationships that form among entrepreneurs. Our analysis of new...