This study of the high-end fashion industry in India examines the process of construction of the worth of a new industry. Analyses of data from multiple sources revealed that framing by early entrepreneurs and the socio-cognitive processes that resulted from the transactions of field-constituents with the new industry constructed the worth of the industry. These socio-cognitive processes—curation and certification, commentary and critique, co-presentation, comparison and commensuration—enabled broader audiences to make sense of the industry and comprehend its worth. The findings form the basis of a general model of the social construction of worth through a process of distributed sanctification, contributing to the growing literature on social construction of value.
AldrichH. E. (1999). Organizations evolving. London: Sage.
2.
AldrichH. E.FiolC. M. (1994). Fools rush in? The institutional context of industry creation. Academy of Management Review, 19, 645–670.
3.
AnandN.PetersonR. A. (2000). When market information constitutes fields: Sensemaking of markets in the commercial music industry. Organization Science, 11, 270–284.
4.
AnandN.WatsonM. R. (2004). Tournament rituals in the evolution of fields: The case of the Grammy awards. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 59–80.
5.
AspersP.BeckertJ. (2011) Introduction. In BeckertJ.AspersP. (Eds.) The worth of goods: Valuation and pricing in the economy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
6.
BarthesR. (1990). The fashion system. Berkeley: University of California Press.
7.
BeckerH. S. (1982). Art worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
8.
BeckertJ. (2009). The social order of markets. Theory and Society, 38, 245–269.
9.
BeckertJ.AspersP. (2011). The worth of goods: Valuation and pricing in the economy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
10.
BenfordR. D.SnowD. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611–639.
11.
BoltanskiL.ThevenotL. (2006). On justification: Economies of worth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12.
BourdieuP. (1993). The field of cultural production. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
13.
CavesR. E. (2000). Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
ChishtiR. K.JainR. (2000). Handcrafted Indian textiles. New Delhi, India: Lustre Press, Roli Books.
15.
CorleyK. G.GioiaD. A. (2004). Identity ambiguity and change in the wake of a corporate spin-off. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49, 173–208.
16.
CraneD. (1997). Globalization, organizational size, and innovation in the French luxury fashion industry: Production of culture theory revisited. Poetics, 24, 393–414.
17.
DeephouseD. L. (1996). Does isomorphism legitimate?Academy of Management Journal, 39, 1024–1039.
18.
DeephouseD. L. (1999). To be different or to be the same? It’s a question (and theory) of strategic balance. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 147–166.
19.
DeephouseD. L.SuchmanM. C. (2008). Legitimacy in organizational institutionalism. In GreenwoodR.OliverC.SahlinK.SuddabyR. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 49–77). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
20.
DempsterA. M. (2006). Managing uncertainty in creative industries: Lessons from Jerry Springer the Opera. Creativity and Innovation Management, 15(3), 224–233.
21.
DeweyJ. (1939). The theory of valuation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
22.
DiMaggioP. (1997). Culture and cognition. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 263.
23.
DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160.
24.
DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (1991). Introduction. In DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 1–38). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
25.
DjelicM.-L.AinamoA. (1999). The coevolution of new organizational forms in the fashion industry: A historical and comparative study of France, Italy, and the United States [Focused issue: Coevolution of strategy and new organizational forms]. Organization Science, 10(5), 622–637.
DouglasM. (1986). How institutions think. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
28.
DouglasM.IsherwoodB. (1979). The world of goods. London, UK: Basic Books.
29.
Economist Intelligence Unit. EIU Country Data, www.eiu.com (for India)
30.
EisenhardtK. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532–550.
31.
EisenhardtK. M. (1991). Better stories and better constructs: The case for rigor and comparative logic. Academy of Management Review, 16, 620–627.
32.
ElsbachK. D.SuttonR. I. (1992). Acquiring organizational legitimacy through illegitimate actions: A marriage of institutional and impression management theories. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 699–738.
33.
EntwistleJ.RocamoraA. (2011). Between art and commerce: London Fashion Week as trade fair and fashion spectacle. In MoeranB.PedersenJ. S. (Eds.), Negotiating values in the creative industries (pp. 249–269). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
34.
EspelandW. N.StevensM. L. (1998). Commensuration as a social process. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 313–343.
35.
EwingE. (1993). History of 20th century fashion (3rd ed.). London, UK: Batsford.
36.
FourcadeM. (2011). Cents and sensibility: Economic values and the nature of “nature.”American Journal of Sociology, 116, 1721–1777.
37.
GarudR. (2008). Conferences as venues for the configuration of emerging organizational fields: The case of cochlear implants. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 1061–1088.
38.
GarudR.RappaM. (1994). A socio-cognitive model of technology evolution. Organization Science, 5, 344–362.
39.
GillowJ.BarnardN. (1991). Traditional Indian textiles. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson.
40.
GinzelL. E.KramerR. M.SuttonR. I. (1993). Organizational impression management as a reciprocal influence process: The neglected role of the organizational audience. In StawB. M.CummingsL. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 15; pp. 227–266). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
41.
GlaserB. G.StraussA. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. New York, NY: Aldine.
42.
GlynnM. A. (2002). Chord and discord: Organizational crisis, institutional shifts, and the musical canon of the Symphony. Poetics, 30, 63–85.
43.
GlynnM. A.LounsburyM. (2005). From the critics’ corner: Logic blending, discursive change and authenticity in a cultural production system. Journal of Management Studies, 42, 1031–1055.
44.
GolantB. D.SillinceJ. A. A. (2007). The constitution of organizational legitimacy: A narrative perspective. Organization Studies, 28, 1149–1167.
45.
GreenfeldL. (1988). Professional ideologies and patterns of ‘gatekeeping’: Evaluation and judgment within two art worlds. Social Forces, 66, 903–925.
46.
HannanM. T.FreemanJ. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929–964.
47.
HardyC.PalmerI.PhillipsN. (2000). Discourse as a strategic resource. Human Relations, 53, 1227–1248.
48.
HargadonA. B.DouglasY. (2001). When innovations meet institutions: Edison and the design of the electric light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 476–501.
49.
HeracleousL.HendryJ. (2000). Discourse and the study of organization: Toward a structurational perspective. Human Relations, 53, 1251–1286.
50.
HirschP. M. (1972). Processing fads and fashions: An organization-set analysis of cultural industry systems. American Journal of Sociology, 77, 639–659.
51.
HoffmanA. J. (1999). Institutional evolution and change: Environmentalism and the US chemical industry. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 351–371.
52.
HsuG. (2006). Jacks of all trades and masters of none: Audiences’ reactions to spanning genres in feature film production. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51, 420–450.
53.
HsuG.HannanM. T. (2005). Identities, genres, and organizational forms. Organization Science, 16, 474–490.
54.
HsuG.RobertsP. W.SwaminathanA. (2012). Evaluative schemas and the mediating role of critics. Organization Science, 23, 83–97.
55.
IrwinJ.HallM. (1971). Indian painted and printed fabrics. Ahmedabad, India: Calico Museum of Textiles.
56.
JickT. D. (1979). Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: Triangulation in action. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 602–611.
57.
JohnsonC.DowdT. J.RidgewayC. L. (2006). Legitimacy as a social process. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 53–78.
58.
JonesC. (2001). Co-evolution of entrepreneurial careers, institutional rules and competitive dynamics in American film, 1895–1920. Organization Studies, 22, 911–944.
59.
JonesC.AnandN.AlvarezJ. L. (2005). Manufactured authenticity and creative voice in cultural industries: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Management Studies, 42, 893–899.
60.
KaplanS.TripsasM. (2008). Thinking about technology: Applying a cognitive lens to technical change. Research Policy, 37, 790–805.
61.
KarpikL. (2010). Valuing the unique: The economics of singularities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
62.
KawamuraY. (2005). Fashion-ology: An introduction to fashion studies. New York, NY: Berg.
63.
KennedyM. T. (2008). Getting counted: Markets, media, and reality. American Sociological Review, 73, 270–295.
64.
KhaireM. V.WadhwaniR. D. (2010). Changing landscapes: The construction of meaning and value in a new market category – modern Indian art. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 1281–1304.
65.
KulkarniV. B. (1979). History of the Indian cotton textile industry. Bombay, India: Millowners’ Association.
66.
LamontM.MolnarV. (2002). The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 167–195.
67.
LampelJ.LantT.ShamsieJ. (2000). Balancing act: Learning from organizing practices in cultural industries. Organization Science, 11, 263–269.
68.
LampelJ.ShamsieJ.LantT. K. (2006). Toward a deeper understanding of cultural industries. In LampelJ.ShamsieJ.LantT. K. (Eds.), The business of culture: Strategic perspectives on entertainment and media. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
69.
LaverJ. (2002). Costume and fashion: A concise history (4th ed.). London, UK: Thames and Hudson.
70.
LockeK. (2001). Grounded theory in management research. London, UK: Sage.
71.
LounsburyM.GlynnM. A. (2001). Cultural entrepreneurship: Stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 545–564.
72.
LounsburyM.RaoH. (2004). Sources of durability and change in market classifications: A study of the reconstitution of product categories in the American mutual fund industry, 1944–1985. Social Forces, 82, 969–999.
73.
LounsburyM.VentrescaM.HirschP. M. (2003). Social movements, field frames and industry emergence: A cultural-political perspective on US recycling. Socio-Economic Review, 1, 71–104.
74.
MathurA. (2002). Woven wonder: The tradition of Indian textiles. New Delhi, India: Rupa & Co.
75.
MendesV.de la HayeA. (1999). 20th century fashion. London, UK: Thames and Hudson.
76.
MeyerJ. W.RowanB. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.
77.
MeziasS. J.KupermanJ. C. (2000). The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the American film industry, 1895–1929. Journal of Business Venturing, 16, 209–233.
78.
MoeranB.PedersenJ. S. (2011). Negotiating values in the creative industries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
79.
NavisC.GlynnM. A. (2010). Entrepreneurship in an emerging field: Temporal dynamics of legitimation and identity in satellite radio. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55, 439–471.
80.
OcasioW.JosephJ. (2005). Cultural adaptation and institutional change: The evolution of vocabularies of corporate governance, 1972–2003. Poetics, 33(3–4), 163–178.
81.
OzcanC. P.EisenhardtK. M. (2009). Origin of alliance portfolios: Entrepreneurs, network strategies, and firm performance. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 246–279.
82.
PetersonR. A.AnandN. (2004). The production of culture perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 311–334.
PhillipsN.LawrenceT. B.HardyC. (2004). Discourse and institutions. Academy of Management Review, 29, 635–652.
85.
PoracJ. F.ThomasH.Baden-FullerC. (1989). Competitive groups as cognitive communities: The case of Scottish knitwear manufacturers. Journal of Management Studies, 26, 397–416.
86.
PoracJ. F.ThomasH.WilsonF.PatonD.KanferA. (1995). Rivalry and the industry model of Scottish knitwear producers. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 203–227.
87.
PrusR. (1985). Price-setting as social activity: Defining price, value, and profit in the marketplace. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 14, 59–93.
88.
RaoH. (1994). The social construction of reputation: Certification contests, legitimation, and the survival of organizations in the American automobile industry: 1895–1912 [Special issue: Competitive organizational behavior]. Strategic Management Journal, 15, 29–44.
89.
RaoH. (1998). Caveat emptor: The construction of nonprofit consumer watchdog organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 912–961.
90.
RaoH.MoninP.DurandR. (2003). Institutional change in toque ville: Nouvelle cuisine as an identity movement in French gastronomy. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 795–843.
91.
RavasiD.SchultzM. (2006). Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 433–458.
92.
RosaJ. A.PoracJ. F.Runser-SpanjolJ.SaxonM. S. (1999). Socio-cognitive dynamics in a product market. Journal of Marketing, 63, 64–77.
93.
SantosF. M.EisenhardtK. M. (2009). Constructing markets and shaping boundaries: Entrepreneurial agency in nascent fields. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 643–671.
94.
ScottR. W. (1995). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
95.
SenguptaH. (2005). Indian fashion. Singapore: Pearson Education.
96.
ShrumW. M. (1991). Critics and publics: Cultural mediation in highbrow and popular performing arts. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 347–375.
97.
SineW. D.LeeB. H. (2009). Tilting at windmills? The environmental movement and the emergence of the US wind energy sector. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 123–155.
98.
SkovL.MeierJ. (2011). Configuring sustainability at fashion week. In MoeranB.PedersenJ. S. (Eds.), Negotiating values in the creative industries (pp. 270–293). Cambridge, UK; Cambridge University Press.
99.
StarkD. (2009). The sense of dissonance: Accounts of worth in economic life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
100.
StarkD. (2011). What is valuable? In BeckertJ.AspersP. (Eds.), The worth of goods: Valuation and pricing in the economy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
101.
SuchmanM. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20, 571–610.
102.
UchikawaS. (1998). Indian textile industry: State policy, liberalization and growth. New Delhi, New India: Manohar Press.
103.
Van de VenA. H.GarudR. (1989). A framework for understanding the emergence of new industries. In RosenbloomR.BurgelmanR. (Eds.), Research on technological innovation, management and policy (Vol. 4; pp. 195–225). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
104.
VelthuisO. (2003). Symbolic meanings of prices: Constructing the value of contemporary art in Amsterdam and New York galleries. Theory and Society, 32(2), 181–215.
105.
VerdaasdonkH. (2003). Valuation as rational decision-making: A critique of Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural value. Poetics, 31, 357–374.
106.
WadeJ. B.PoracJ. F.PollockT. G. (1997). Worth, words, and the justification of executive pay [Special issue: Computers can read as well as count: Computer-aided text analysis in organizational research]. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18, 641–664.
107.
WalkerH. A.RogersL.ZelditchM. J. (1988). Legitimacy and collective action: A research note. Social Forces, 67, 216–228.
108.
WhiteH. C. (1981a). Production markets as induced role structures. Sociological Methodology, 12, 1–57.
109.
WhiteH. C. (1981b). Where do markets come from?American Journal of Sociology, 87(3): 517–547.
110.
WryT.LounsburyM.GlynnM. A. (2011). Legitimating new categories of organizations: Stories as distributed cultural entrepreneurship. Organization Science, 22, 339–463.
111.
YinR. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
112.
ZelditchM. J.WalkerH. A. (2003). The legitimacy of regimes. Advances in Group Process, 1, 1–25.
113.
ZelizerV. A. (1989). The social meaning of money: “Special monies.”American Journal of Sociology, 95, 342–377.
114.
ZhaoW. (2005). Understanding classifications: Empirical evidence from the American and French wine industries. Poetics, 33(3–4), 179–200.
115.
ZilberT. B. (2007). Stories and the discursive dynamics of institutional entrepreneurship: The case of Israeli high-tech after the bubble. Organization Studies, 28, 1035–1054.
116.
ZuckermanE. W.KimT. Y. (2003). The critical trade-off: Identity assignment and box-office success in the feature film industry. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12, 27–67.
117.
ZuckermanE. W.KimT. Y.UkanwaK.von RittmannJ. (2003). Robust identities or nonentities? Typecasting in the feature-film labor market. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 1018–1074.
