Bad apples and sour grapes: How fruit and vegetable wholesalers’ fantasy mediates experienced stigma

Abstract

How do organisations that belong to a stigmatised industry manage negative perceptions? We contribute to answering this question by highlighting how organisational members turn external negative evaluations into positive self-idealisations. Our research offers a unique perspective on how stigmatised actors navigate their tarnished image, as well as how they remain attached to a group and its attributes despite its stigmatisation. The study reports findings from two French fruit and vegetable wholesalers, who are commonly perceived as thieves, bandits and unwanted intermediaries. We explain how organisational members were able to neutralise negative perceptions by mobilising and maintaining an idealised perception of their centrality. This structuring fantasy formed a powerful defence against stigmatised perceptions, transforming the stigma into self-idealisation that supported organisational stability. The organisations studied developed idealisation strategies based on members’ attachment to or distancing from nostalgic fantasies of the past. We suggest that awareness of the idealised construct that underpins a particular attachment to a stigmatised attribute may help organisations and their members free themselves from stigma.