IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v7y2017i2p2158244017699036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cluster Formation as a Representation of the Category Space: A Two-Level Theoretical Model Tested Within the Context of the Lebanese Newspaper Industry (1851-1974)

Author

Listed:
  • Najib A. Mozahem

Abstract

Researchers in organizational ecology have started to pay more attention to audience perceptions. Legitimacy, for example, is no longer modeled as the number of organizations in a population. It is now thought to be dependent on how audience members perceive these organizations. It is believed that audiences penalize organizations that span categories because they cannot make much sense of them. This article will argue that category spanning dynamics follow the pattern proposed by the resource partitioning theory, thereby questioning the legitimacy of the claim that category spanning is detrimental to organization survival. Instead, the article develops a two-level model which distinguishes between category spanning and cluster spanning. The article will argue that cluster spanning, and not category spanning, increases the mortality hazard of organizations during all time periods. The theory is then tested within the context of the Lebanese newspaper industry (1851-1974). The result of both cluster analysis and survival analysis supports the two-level model.

Suggested Citation

  • Najib A. Mozahem, 2017. "Cluster Formation as a Representation of the Category Space: A Two-Level Theoretical Model Tested Within the Context of the Lebanese Newspaper Industry (1851-1974)," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440176, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:2158244017699036
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244017699036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244017699036
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244017699036?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giacomo Negro & Michael T. Hannan & Hayagreeva Rao, 2010. "Categorical contrast and audience appeal: niche width and critical success in winemaking," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(5), pages 1397-1425, October.
    2. Glenn Milligan & Martha Cooper, 1985. "An examination of procedures for determining the number of clusters in a data set," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 159-179, June.
    3. Joel A. C. Baum & Jitendra V. Singh, 1994. "Organizational Niches and the Dynamics of Organizational Founding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 483-501, November.
    4. Greta Hsu & Michael T. Hannan, 2005. "Identities, Genres, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(5), pages 474-490, October.
    5. Ezra W. Zuckerman & Tai-Young Kim, 2003. "The critical trade-off: identity assignment and box-office success in the feature film industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(1), pages 27-67, February.
    6. Rodolphe Durand & Hayagreeva Rao & Philippe Monin, 2005. "Border Crossing: Bricolage and the Erosion of Categorical Boundaries in French Gastronomy," Post-Print hal-00457938, HAL.
    7. Philippe Monin & Hayagreeva Rao & Rodolphe Durand, 2005. "Border crossing : Bricolage and the Erosion of Categorical Boundaries in French Gastronomy," Post-Print hal-02311675, HAL.
    8. David L. Deephouse, 1999. "To be different, or to be the same? It’s a question (and theory) of strategic balance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 147-166, February.
    9. Ann Echols & Wenpin Tsai, 2005. "Niche and performance: the moderating role of network embeddedness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 219-238, March.
    10. Michael T. Hannan & László Pólos & Glenn R. Carroll, 2007. "Language Matters, from Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies," Introductory Chapters, in: Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies, Princeton University Press.
    11. Zuckerman, Ezra W. & Kim, Tai-Young & Ukanwa, Kalinda & James, von Rittmann, 2003. "Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor Market," Working papers 4291-02, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elizabeth George Pontikes, 2022. "Category innovation in the software industry: 1990–2002," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(9), pages 1697-1727, September.
    2. Buhr, Helena & Funk, Russell J. & Owen-Smith, Jason, 2021. "The authenticity premium: Balancing conformity and innovation in high technology industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    3. Tang, Yi & Wezel, Filippo Carlo, 2015. "Up to standard?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 452-466.
    4. J.-P. Vergne & Tyler Wry, 2014. "Categorizing Categorization Research: Review, Integration, and Future Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 56-94, January.
    5. Greta Hsu & Peter W. Roberts & Anand Swaminathan, 2012. "Evaluative Schemas and the Mediating Role of Critics," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 83-97, February.
    6. Ming D. Leung & Amanda J. Sharkey, 2014. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Evidence of Perceptual Factors in the Multiple-Category Discount," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 171-184, February.
    7. Greta Hsu & Michael T. Hannan & Laszlo Polos, 2009. "Typecasting and Legitimation: A Formal Theory," Working Papers 2009_01, Durham University Business School.
    8. Elizabeth G. Pontikes, 2018. "Category Strategy for Firm Advantage," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 620-631, December.
    9. Anthony Vashevko, 2019. "Does the Middle Conform or Compete? Quality Thresholds Predict the Locus of Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 88-108, February.
    10. Giacomo Negro & Ming D. Leung, 2013. "“Actual” and Perceptual Effects of Category Spanning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 684-696, June.
    11. Eric Yanfei Zhao & P. Devereaux Jennings & Masakazu Ishihara & Michael Lounsbury, 2018. "Optimal Distinctiveness in the Console Video Game Industry: An Exemplar-Based Model of Proto-Category Evolution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 588-611, August.
    12. Michael Lounsbury & Christine M. Beckman, 2015. "Celebrating Organization Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 288-308, March.
    13. Majid Majzoubi & Eric Yanfei Zhao, 2023. "Going beyond optimal distinctiveness: Strategic positioning for gaining an audience composition premium," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 737-777, March.
    14. Giacomo Negro & Michael T. Hannan & Hayagreeva Rao, 2011. "Category Reinterpretation and Defection: Modernism and Tradition in Italian Winemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1449-1463, December.
    15. Wijnberg, Nachoem M., 2011. "Classification systems and selection systems: The risks of radical innovation and category spanning," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 297-306, September.
    16. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Gino Cattani & Joseph F. Porac & Howard Thomas, 2017. "Categories and competition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 64-92, January.
    17. Trapido, Denis, 2015. "How novelty in knowledge earns recognition: The role of consistent identities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1488-1500.
    18. Wry, Tyler & Lounsbury, Michael, 2013. "Contextualizing the categorical imperative: Category linkages, technology focus, and resource acquisition in nanotechnology entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 117-133.
    19. Justin Frake, 2017. "Selling Out: The Inauthenticity Discount in the Craft Beer Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(11), pages 3930-3943, November.
    20. Candace Jones & Massimo Maoret & Felipe G. Massa & Silviya Svejenova, 2012. "Rebels with a Cause: Formation, Contestation, and Expansion of the De Novo Category “Modern Architecture,” 1870–1975," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1523-1545, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:2158244017699036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.