Categorical contrast and audience appeal: niche width and critical success in winemaking
By Giacomo Negro, Michael T. Hannan, Hayagreeva Rao. 2010
192 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Previous studies show that producers that span category boundaries exhibit lower fit to category schemas, accumulate less expertise, and elicit negative reactions from both critics and consumers. We propose that the negative reaction to category spanning also depends on another mechanism: widespread category spanning lowers categorical contrast--the sharpness of a category's boundaries. Lowered contrast blurs boundaries among categories due to the impairment of the comparison processes underlying evaluations and the growing disagreement about the meaning of the category. These processes lower the appeal of all products in a category and make it problematic for any offer to receive widespread acclaim. By making boundaries less salient, reduced contrast also lowers the advantages of category specialism. These propositions receive support in an analysis of style categories and ratings of Barolos and Barbarescos, elite Italian wines. Copyright 2010 The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.
Subfields: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management, Visual Arts and Performing Arts
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6a1c40d6711f315c779ca87983f2f1caf5862fb7
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Citations in the corpus
- Two Sides of the Same Coin (2012, methodology): “This is consistent with previous studies on organizational categorization (Hsu, 2006; Hsu, Hannan, and Kocxak, 2009; Kovács and Hannan, 2010; Negro, Hannan, and Rao, 2010).2 To test hypothesis 1a and hypothesis 2a, I needed to create measures of label ambiguity.”
- Hidden Badge of Honor: How Contextual Distinctiveness Affects Category Promotion among Certified B Corporations (2017, background): “Others note the importance of inter-category distinctiveness, suggesting that greater affinity among members can contribute to increased contrast between categories (Negro et al., 2010).”
- Category Spanning, Evaluation, and Performance: Revised Theory and Test on the Corporate Law Market (2016, unknown): “…spanning, as in the classical versus nouvelle categories of the haute cuisine context (Rao, Monin, & Durand, 2005) or in the more recent wine studies on Barolo versus Barbaresco (Negro et al., 2010) and the science versus technology-based startups in the carbon nanotube industry (Wry et al., 2014).”
- An ecology of social categories. (2014, background): “…this issue by assuming that category boundaries are policed by market intermediaries such as stock market analysts (Zuckerman 1999), credit agencies (Ruef and Patterson 2009), critics (Hsu 2006; Rao et al. 2003; Negro et al. 2010; Negro and Leung 2013), and government agencies (Ruef 2000).”