Abstract: Contested industries face numerous challenges to the appropriateness of their products or services, operational practices, strategies and/or forms. Such challenges typically play a critical role in shaping an industry during its early development (DiMaggio, 1991; Rao, 1994) or after it experiences a transformative shock (Galvin et al., 2004; Madsen and Walker, 2007; Sine and David, 2003). However, when an industry is characterized by multiple conflicting normative, regulatory and cognitive sources of contestation as well as heterogeneous actors who are endogenous and exogenous to the industry, it may be more susceptible to ongoing contestation. Under these conditions, persistent heterogeneity among actors and initiatives may impede an industry’s development and growth. How do these multiple, conflicting and persistent sources of contestation affect an industry’s development and growth? We explore this question in an industry that has encountered considerable societal attention and regulatory debate, the U.S. Marijuana industry.

Abstract: We debunk the concept of greenwashing by developing theory that is broadly based on the concepts of conformity and compliance, symbolic and substantive actions. Our goal is to understand and characterize the behavioral antecedents of a monolithically-perceived, yet fundamentally strategic and complex organizational practice. We address this question at three levels of analysis: the issue, the organization, and the institutional environment. We develop a process model whereby firms decide whether and in what way to decouple their practices from their policies based on the perceived materiality of the issue at hand, on a calculus of the costs and benefits related to the use of their own resources and capabilities, and on the strength of the institutional pressures. We conclude with several propositions for future research.

Abstract: Using literatures on impression management and social communities we examine a firm’s response to social barriers to entry (community opposition to a new facility or service proposed by a firm seeking to enter a location-constrained industry). Extant literature has shown that firms use positive claims to legitimize their proposals by drawing attention towards positive attributes. This paper argues that, as a complementary response, firms can use negative claims to delegitimize certain external constituents and dissuade them from participating in the contestation. The complementary nature of positive and negative claims can also help firms to deal with the asymmetrical threats represented by community insiders and outsiders. Longitudinal analysis of all proposals for new LNG import terminals in the U.S. from 2000 to 2013 supports our theory.

Abstract: This paper explores how institutional contexts affect trust and, in turn, governance in interorganizational exchanges. Bringing together the literatures on governance, as well economic and sociological perspectives on trust, we present a framework that connects three types of trust – competence, integrity, and benevolence – and the propensity to trust to formal and informal institutions. We discuss how these institutions affect trust and its role as a governance mechanism both alone and in conjunction with formal mechanisms. Our analysis uncovers a complex set of relationships between trust and governance. We posit that different types of trust fulfill different roles in governance, and that the extent to which these roles are complementary or substitutes is influenced by the regulative, normative, and cultural institutional environments.

Abstract: The analysis of the determinants of the value captured by different agents is a fundamental issue in strategic management. Despite its importance, there is very little empirical work on the determinants of value capture and the contingencies that may affect it. We empirically evaluate value captured by the employees and by the focal firm and assess how the relative value appropriation of each of these parties is moderated by different institutional characteristics and by the productivity of the employees. Our setting is the mining industry. We have very detailed information about the general performance of the population of copper mines operating in different geographic contexts and countries for the period 2000 - 2008.