Xtending Likages Between Organizational Analysis and Social Structure: A Case Study of the Celebrity-Construction of a Chinese Marketplace

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of firm-celebrity, both an intangible-asset, and a facilitator of competitive advantage. Institutional approaches have asserted that organizations from the same organizational field and characterized by comparable structural positions face similar structural forces. These result in isomorphic tendencies, and similarities among firms. But, in any organizational field, differences among firms also exist. Apart from research on variations resulting from intra-organization factors, however, firm-differentiating processes have not received much attention. This paper focuses on various firm-external social constructions: legitimacy, reputation, and status, and how they impact the emergence of firm-celebrity, a construct that helps to differentiate one firm from another. The paper adopts a historical, relationally framed approach, which features a firm-celebrity case study.