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Converging Tides Lift All Boats: Consensus in Evaluation Criteria Boosts Investments in Firms in Nascent Technology Sectors

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  • Xirong (Subrina) Shen

    (Department of Management, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

  • Huisi (Jessica) Li

    (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

  • Pamela S. Tolbert

    (Department of Organizational Behavior, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853)

Abstract

Although previous studies show that the emergence of evaluation criteria for a new technology improves the life chances of well-performing firms, we theorize that consensus in such criteria among technology experts increases investments to all firms in the new sector. We provide a variety of supportive evidence for this claim. First, in an experiment with 80 Chinese investors (Study 1), we provide evidence of a causal relation between evaluation consensus and investments. We follow this with a second experiment with 412 U.S. participants (Study 2), showing that evaluation criteria consensus increases participants’ propensity to view a firm as technologically competent and to expect others to favor investing in the firm. Analyses of longitudinal archival data on investment in artificial intelligence technology firms in the United States (Study 3a) and China (Study 3b) support the generalizability of our findings. By exploring the social-cognitive processes that link evaluation criteria consensus to investors’ decisions to invest in firms in nascent technology fields, this paper advances the scholarly understanding of the microfoundations of the institutionalization processes in new market sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Xirong (Subrina) Shen & Huisi (Jessica) Li & Pamela S. Tolbert, 2023. "Converging Tides Lift All Boats: Consensus in Evaluation Criteria Boosts Investments in Firms in Nascent Technology Sectors," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(6), pages 2415-2435, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:34:y:2023:i:6:p:2415-2435
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.1493
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