Management Papers

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

10-2014

Publication Source

Academy of Management Journal

Volume

57

Issue

5

Start Page

1309

Last Page

1333

DOI

10.5465/amj.2011.0588

Abstract

This study develops and tests a set of novel theoretical predictions about the conditions under which category spanning is rewarded by external audiences. To do this, we revisit the assumption that comprehensible organizational identities are associated with individual categories. Drawing on insights from cognitive psychology, we suggest that category spanning does not necessarily lead to confusion, but, rather, to interpretations that rely on a “header–modifier” structure where one category anchors cognition but is modified by features of the other. Audiences may have clear understandings about how categories fit together and cognate schema for evaluating firms that hybridize by spanning between them. An empirical examination of venture capital in the carbon nanotechnology industry supports our approach: start-ups were rewarded or punished for hybridization contingent on how they mixed “science” and “technology” in their patents, top management team, and collaborations. As such, we show that the category a firm starts in, how it hybridizes, and the degree to which this affects core versus peripheral identity markers may all affect how it is perceived.

Copyright/Permission Statement

Originally published in the Academy of Management Journal © 2014 Academy of Management

This is a pre-publication version. The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0588

Keywords

categories, hybridization, venture capital

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Date Posted: 25 October 2018

This document has been peer reviewed.