Prato, Matteo and Kypraios, Emmanuel and Ertug, Gokhan and Lee, Yonghoon G. (2019) Middle-status conformity revisited: The interplay between achieved and ascribed status. Academy of Management Journal, 62 (4). pp. 1003-1027. ISSN 0001-4273

Preview

Download (859kB) | Preview

Abstract

Decisions about conforming to or deviating from conventional practices in a field is an important concern of organization and management theory. The position that actors occupy in the status hierarchy has been shown to be an important determinant of these decisions. The dominant hypothesis, known as middle-status-conformity, posits that middle-status actors are more likely to conform to conventional practices than high- and low-status actors do. We challenge this hypothesis by revisiting its fundamental assumptions and developing a theory where actors’ propensity to conform based on their achieved status further depends on their ascribed status that actors inherit from their social group. Specifically, we propose that middle-status conformity applies only to actors who have a sense of security, based on their high ascribed status. For actors with low ascribed status, we propose that high-and low-status actors show greater conformity than middle-status actors. We test our hypotheses using data from the U.S. symphony orchestras from 1918 to 1969.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the preprint version of the published article. Cite this version as: PRATO, Matteo; KRYPRAIOS, Emmanuel; ERTUG, Gokhan; and LEE, Yonghoon G.. Middle-status conformity revisited: The interplay between achieved and ascribed status. (2019). Academy of Management Journal. 62, (4), 1003-1027. Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business. Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5930. The published version is available at: Matteo Prato, Emmanuel Kypraios, Gokhan Ertug, and Yonghoon G. Lee, 2019: Middle-Status Conformity Revisited: The Interplay between Achieved and Ascribed Status. AMJ, 62, 1003–1027, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.0316
Keywords:	Middle-status conformity; achieved status; ascribed status; organization and management theory;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	14966
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.0316
Depositing User:	Emmanuel Kypraios
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2021 16:12
Journal or Publication Title:	Academy of Management Journal
Publisher:	Academy of Management
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads