Publications
12 results found
Lo JY-C, Rhee E, Fiss P, et al., 2020, Category viability: balanced levels of coherence and distinctiveness, Academy of Management Review, Vol: 45, Pages: 85-108, ISSN: 1930-3807
In a growing body of literature on categorization in organization theory, researchers are exploring the stabilizing role of categories and the processes by which they emerge. Because the literature focuses mainly on categories that emerge successfully or are already established, we know much less about why categories fall out of use or fail to emerge. Rather than viewing declining usage or failed emergence as different processes, we argue that they are two aspects of the single problem of understanding what makes a category viable. Focusing on the coherence of the items included in a category and how distinct they are compared to items in other categories, we develop the concept of category viability and argue that viable categories are those found useful for sensemaking, analysis, and coordination because they balance both coherence and distinctiveness to fall within what we call a zone of viability. To illustrate how category viability helps explain both change and continuity of categories, we also offer a framework to describe the process by which categories move in or out of the zone of viability with deliberate actions or with shifting circumstances that change their members or positions relative to other categories.
Molina-Solana M, Kennedy M, Amador Diaz Lopez J, 2018, foo.castr: visualising the future AI workforce, Big Data Analytics, Vol: 3, ISSN: 2058-6345
Organization of companies and their HR departments are becoming hugely affected by recent advancements in computational power and Artificial Intelligence, with this trend likely to dramatically rise in the next few years. This work presents foo.castr, a tool we are developing to visualise, communicate and facilitate the understanding of the impact of these advancements in the future of workforce. It builds upon the idea that particular tasks within job descriptions will be progressively taken by computers, forcing the shaping of human jobs. In its current version, foo.castr presents three different scenarios to help HR departments planning potential changes and disruptions brought by the adoption of Artificial Intelligence.
Glaser VL, Fiss PC, Kennedy MT, 2016, Making snowflakes like stocks: stretching, bending, and positioning to make financial market analogies work in online advertising., Organization Science, Vol: 27, Pages: 1029-1048, ISSN: 1047-7039
Analogies to financial markets have proven powerful in establishing novel or potentially controversial business concepts, even in contexts that deviate significantly from financial markets. This phenomenon challenges theory that suggests analogies work best when elements from a source and target domain map closely to each other. To develop a theory that explains how organizations make initially imperfect analogies “work,” we use a case study of online advertising exchanges, a market-inspired model for buying and selling online advertising space. We find that as organizations stretch an initially misfitting exchange analogy from financial markets to online advertising, they iteratively bend their activities in superficial, structural, and generative ways to match the analogy and position themselves for advantage in the new space being created. Whereas prior studies emphasize shared cognition about familiar domains as the reason why analogies work, our study offers a dynamic account in which stretching, bending, and positioning combine to not only establish the financial market analogy but also subtly change the understanding of markets.
Lo JY-C, Kennedy MT, 2015, Approval in nanotechnology patents: micro and macro factors that affect reactions to category blending, Organization Science, Vol: 26, Pages: 119-139, ISSN: 1047-7039
Studies show that blending multiple categories rather than fitting one category cleanly undermines the appeal of market offerings, but in science and technology, blending multiple categories has been a formula for creating important new categories like nanotechnology. What enables such blends to earn approval and become recognized as new categories? We argue that reactions to category blending are affected by both micro and macro factors. Specifically, blend reactions are affected at the micro level by cognitive limits, especially as blends are repeated, and at the macro level by domain-specific logics for judging quality. Using data on nanotechnology patents, we test this argument by analyzing two dimensions of approval: time to approval and citations by subsequent patents. In addition to showing that blending has different effects on these two dimensions of approval, our findings suggest that reactions to blending are moderated, as argued, by (1) institutional logics that value novel combinations and (2) the repetition of blends that came to define nanotechnology. Our study contributes to theory by linking approval of category blends to cognitive limitations and cultural and institutional logics of evaluation.
Kennedy MT, Fiss PC, 2013, An Ontological Turn in Categories Research: From Standards of Legitimacy to Evidence of Actuality, Journal of Management Studies, Pages: n/a-n/a, ISSN: 1467-6486
Fiss PC, Kennedy MT, Davis GF, 2012, How Golden Parachutes Unfolded: Diffusion and Variation of a Controversial Practice, Organization Science, Vol: 23, Pages: 1077-1099
Kennedy MT, Chok JI, Liu J, 2012, What does it mean to be green? The emergence of new criteria for assessing corporate reputation, Oxford Handbook of Corporate Reputation, Editors: Pollock, Barnett, London, Publisher: Oxford University Press
Kennedy MT, Lo YC, Lounsbury M, 2010, Category Currency: The Changing Value of Conformity as a Function of Ongoing Meaning Construction, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol: 31, Pages: 369-397
Kennedy MT, Lo YC, Lounsbury MD, 2010, Category Currency: A Framework for Analyzing The Effects of meaning Construction Processes, Categories in Markets: Origins and Evolution, Editors: Hsu, Negro, Özgecan, Publisher: Emerald, Pages: 369-397
In markets, audiences generally discount offerings that fail to fit established product categories, but when misfit offerings change category meaning, the effects of conformity and deviation can reverse so that previously overlooked or unappealing offerings become popular while previously appealing products fall into disfavor. After introducing the idea of category currency to explain how the value of conformity changes with ongoing meaning construction, we use it to make sense of the emergence of nanotechnology. In conclusion, we argue that category currency is useful for explaining the changing value of conformity both in and beyond markets.
Kennedy MT, Fiss PC, 2009, Institutionalization, Framing and Diffusion: The Logic of TQM Adoption and Implementation Decisions among US Hospitals, Academy of Management Journal, Vol: 52, Pages: 897-918
Kennedy MT, 2008, Getting Counted: Markets, Media and Reality, American Sociological Review, Vol: 73, Pages: 270-295
Kennedy MT, 2005, Behind the One-Way Mirror: Refraction in the Construction of Product Market Categories, Poetics, Vol: 33, Pages: 201-226
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