Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- 1 The imbalances and limitations of theory and research on organizational wrongdoing
- 2 On taking the theoretical substance of outcomes seriously: a meta-conversation
- 3 Wrong paths to right: defining morality with or without a clear red line
- 4 From market enablers to market participants: redefining organizational and political-legal arrangements and opportunities for financial wrongdoing,1930s–2000
- 5 Wrongdoing and market development: an examination of the distinct roles of trust and distrust
- 6 Bad apples, bad barrels and bad cellars: a “boundaries” perspective on professional misconduct
- 7 S/he blinded me with science: the sociology of scientific misconduct
- 8 Social networks and organizational wrongdoing in context
- 9 Falling stars: celebrity, infamy, and the fall from (and return to) grace
- 10 Compensation and employee misconduct: the inseparability of productive and counterproductive behavior in firms
- 11 Beware of organizational saints: how a moral self-concept may foster immoral behavior
- 12 “Is it me? Or is it me?” The role of coactivated multiple identities and identifications in promoting or discouraging workplace crimes
- 13 Consequences of organizational misconduct: too much and too little punishment
- 14 Who bears the brunt? A review and research agenda for the consequences of organizational wrongdoing for individuals
- 15 Organizational wrongdoing and media bias
- 16 Ethical learning: releasing the moral unicorn
- Index
- References
9 - Falling stars: celebrity, infamy, and the fall from (and return to) grace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2016
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- 1 The imbalances and limitations of theory and research on organizational wrongdoing
- 2 On taking the theoretical substance of outcomes seriously: a meta-conversation
- 3 Wrong paths to right: defining morality with or without a clear red line
- 4 From market enablers to market participants: redefining organizational and political-legal arrangements and opportunities for financial wrongdoing,1930s–2000
- 5 Wrongdoing and market development: an examination of the distinct roles of trust and distrust
- 6 Bad apples, bad barrels and bad cellars: a “boundaries” perspective on professional misconduct
- 7 S/he blinded me with science: the sociology of scientific misconduct
- 8 Social networks and organizational wrongdoing in context
- 9 Falling stars: celebrity, infamy, and the fall from (and return to) grace
- 10 Compensation and employee misconduct: the inseparability of productive and counterproductive behavior in firms
- 11 Beware of organizational saints: how a moral self-concept may foster immoral behavior
- 12 “Is it me? Or is it me?” The role of coactivated multiple identities and identifications in promoting or discouraging workplace crimes
- 13 Consequences of organizational misconduct: too much and too little punishment
- 14 Who bears the brunt? A review and research agenda for the consequences of organizational wrongdoing for individuals
- 15 Organizational wrongdoing and media bias
- 16 Ethical learning: releasing the moral unicorn
- Index
- References
Summary
Celebrity firms are firms that attract a high level of public attention and generate positive affective responses from stakeholder audiences (Rindova, Pollock, and Hayward 2006). Recent research has explored how and why firms become celebrities (Rindova et al. 2006; Zavyalova and Pfarrer 2015) and how celebrity creates value for firms (Pfarrer, Pollock, and Rindova 2010). Celebrity firms are more likely to have unexpectedly high performance – and gain additional benefits when they do so – while suffering fewer penalties when their performance is lower than expected (Pfarrer et al. 2010).
Rindova and colleagues have also argued that firms can engender “infamy,” which results from generating a high level of public attention and negative affective responses from stakeholder audiences. Central to both celebrity and infamy is that firms must engage in “deviant” or non-conforming behaviors. When viewed positively, these behaviors create a “rebel” celebrity persona attractive to at least some stakeholders; however, if the non-conforming behaviors are viewed negatively they can lead to an “outlaw” persona that at a minimum results in a loss of celebrity and possibly increases infamy.
Although researchers have begun to explore the causes and consequences of firm celebrity, little research (for a recent exception, see Zavyalova and Pfarrer [2015]) has considered how firms become infamous. Building on Rindova and colleagues (2006), Zavyalova and Pfarrer (2015) argued that celebrity occurs through audience members’ identification with a firm's values and beliefs as presented in media-created narratives, and that infamy results from dis-identification with the organization's values and beliefs. Because firms face a plethora of stakeholder audiences with differing priorities and values, they further argued that the same firm can possess both celebrity and infamy simultaneously, as the same set of organizational values and beliefs can be the cause for identification with the firm by one stakeholder audience and dis-identification by another. Consequently, firms can lose celebrity in their quest to maintain it by eventually engaging in behaviors or revealing information that is inconsistent with audience members’ bases for identification.
Fundamental to the process of becoming infamous is the belief by a stakeholder group or groups that the firm is engaging in deviant behaviors that they consider wrongdoing.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Organizational WrongdoingKey Perspectives and New Directions, pp. 235 - 269Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016
References
and
1989. “The gloried self: The aggrandizement and the construction of self,” Social Psychological Quarterly
52: 299–310.Google Scholar
2005. “A theory of scandal: ‘Victorians, homosexuality, and the fall of Oscar Wilde’,” American Journal of Sociology
111(1): 213–248.Google Scholar
American Chemistry Council. 2013. “Responsible care: Milestones and achievements,” American Chemistry Council. Available from www.responsiblecare.americanchemistry.com/Home-Page-Content/Responsible-Care-Timeline.pdf [Accessed: May 13, 2015].
and
2003. “The normalization of corruption in organizations,” Research in Organizational Behavior
25: 1–52.Google Scholar
and
2008. “Good fences make good neighbors: A longitudinal analysis of an industry self-regulatory institution,” Academy of Management Journal
51(6): 1150–1170.Google Scholar
, , , and
2001. “Bad is stronger than good,” Review of General Psychology
5(4): 323–370.Google Scholar
2014. “Jon Hamm is not the man you think he is,” Esquire April 15. Available from www.esquire.co.uk/culture/features/6124/jon-hamm-exclusive-esquire-interview [Accessed: January 13, 2015].
1972. “Morality judgments: Tests of an averaging model,” Journal of Experimental Psychology
93(1): 35–42.Google Scholar
1973. “Morality judgments: Test of an averaging model with differential weights,” Journal of Experimental Psychology
99(3): 395–399.Google Scholar
1993. The Social Structure of Right and Wrong. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
, , , , , , , , , and
1974. “The honoring of accounts,” American Sociological Review
39: 551–566.Google Scholar
and
2008. “The Nixon-in China effect: Activism, imitation and the institutionalization of contentious practices,” Administrative Science Quarterly
53(3): 460–491.Google Scholar
and
2002. “Resurrecting the red: Pete Seeger and the purification of difficult reputations,” Social Forces
80(4): 1135–1155.Google Scholar
and
2015. “A burden of responsibility: The role of social approval at the onset of a crisis,” Academy of Management Review
40(3): 345–369.Google Scholar
and
2003. “Agenda setting effects of business news on the public's images and opinions about major corporations,” Corporate Reputation Review
6: 36–46.Google Scholar
Daily Mail. 2008. “Ryanair ‘least favourite airline,’” Daily Mail Online, October 16. Available from www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-615875/Ryanair-favourite-airline.html [Accessed: January 7, 2015].
, , , and
2009. “A general theory of organizational stigma,” Organization Science
20(1): 154–171.Google Scholar
2015. “The war on drugs is burning out,” Rolling Stone, January 8. Available from www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-war-on-drugs-is-burning-out-20150108 [Accessed: January 15, 2015].
2015. “AirBnB supporters and haters rally in advance of city council meeting,” Brooklyn Magazine, January 20. Available from www.bkmag.com/2015/01/20/airbnb-supporters-and-haters-demonstrate-ahead-of-city-council-hearing [Accessed: January, 24, 2015].
, , and
2010. “The normalization of deviant organizational practices: Wage arrears in Russia, 1991–98,” Academy of Management Journal
53(2): 218–237.Google Scholar
1994. “Managing organizational legitimacy in the California cattle industry: The construction and effectiveness of verbal accounts,” Administrative Science Quarterly
39(1): 57–88.Google Scholar
and
2001. “Defining who you are by what you're not: Organizational disidentification and the National Rifle Association,” Organization Science
12(4): 393–413.Google Scholar
1997. “Scandal, social conditions, and the creation of public attention: Fatty Arbuckle and the ‘problem of Hollywood,’” Social Problems
44(3): 297–323.Google Scholar
1999. “John Brown's body: Elites, heroic embodiment, and the legitimation of political violence,” Social Problems
46(2): 225–249.Google Scholar
, , and
2003. “Judgment and decision making: The dance of affect and reason,” in and (eds.), Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research: 327–364. Cambridge University Press.
1863[1900]. Technique of the Drama: An Exposition of Dramatic Composition and Art (, Trans.). Chicago, IL: Scott, Foresman and Co.
, , , and
1992. “Media images and the social construction of reality,” Annual Review of Sociology
18: 373–393.Google Scholar
and
1975. “Major developments in the sociological study of deviance,” Annual Review of Sociology
1: 21–42.Google Scholar
2011. “Jérôme Kerviel the ‘rogue trader’ of Société Générale: Bad luck, bad apple, bad tree or bad orchard?” Company Lawyer
32: 355–362.Google Scholar
, , , , and
2013. “Falls from grace and the hazards of high status: The 2009 British MP expense scandal and its impact on parlimentary elites,” Administrative Science Quarterly
58(3): 313–345.Google Scholar
, , and
2010. “Organizations gone wild: The causes, processes, and consequences of organizational misconduct,” Academy of Management Annals, 4: 53–107.Google Scholar
, , and
2014. “Legitimacy-as-feeling: How affect leads to vertical legitimacy spillovers in transnational governance,” Journal of Management Studies
51(4): 634–666.Google Scholar
1984. “Black radicalization and the funding of civil rights: 1957–1970,” Social Problems
32(1): 31–43.Google Scholar
2013. “Google's dropped anti-censorship warning marks quiet defeat in China,” The Guardian, January 7. Available from www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/04/google-defeat-china-censorship-battle [Accessed: January 13, 2014].
2015. “How Timberland used data to reboot its brand,” Washington Post, January 4, Available from www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/01/02/how-timberland-used-customer-data-to-reboot-its-brand [Accessed: January 13, 2015].
and
1997. “Explaining the premiums paid for large acquisitions: Evidence of CEO hubris,” Administrative Science Quarterly
42(1): 103–127.Google Scholar
and
2002. “A new typology of deviance: Integrating normative and reactivist definitions of deviance,” Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal
23: 449–479.Google Scholar
2013. “Who owns organic brands and why you should care,” Forbes, May 25. Available from www.forbes.com/sites/bethhoffman/2013/05/25/who-owns-organic-brands-and-why-you-should-care [Accessed: January 9, 2015].
2009. “Consolidation in the North American organic food processing sector, 1997 to 2007,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food
16(1): 13–30.Google Scholar
1962. “Societal reaction to deviant behavior: Problems of theory and method,” Social Problems
9: 247–256.Google Scholar
and
2002. “Global microstructures: The virtual societies of financial markets,” American Journal of Sociology
107: 905–950.Google Scholar
and
2010. “CEO hubris and firm risk taking in China: The moderating role of managerial discretion,” Academy of Management Journal
53(1): 45–68.Google Scholar
2014. “Don Draper's sad manhood: What makes ‘Mad Men’ different from ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Sopranos’,” Salon, April 12. Available from www.salon.com/2014/04/11/don_drapers_sad_manhood_what_makes_mad_men_different_from_breaking_bad_sopranos [Accessed: January 13, 2015].
, , and
1997. “Status, power, and accounts,” Social Psychology Quarterly
60(3): 238–251.Google Scholar
and . 1997. “Motive, opportunity, choice, and corporate illegality,” Organization Science
8: 624–647.Google Scholar
, , and
2012. “The path dependence of organizational reputation: How social judgment influences assessments of capability and character,” Strategic Management Journal
33(5): 459–477.Google Scholar
, , , and
2010. “Why ‘good’ firms do bad things: The effects of high aspirations, high expectations and prominence on the incidence of corporate illegality,” Academy of Management Journal
53(4): 701–722.Google Scholar
NSAA, 2014. “NSAA sustainable slopes annual report 2014,” NSAA. Available from www.nsaa.org/media/210657/SSAR_2014.pdf [Accessed: May 12, 2015].
2014. “Chick-Fil-A CEO Cathy: Gay marriage still wrong, but I'll shut up about it now and sell chicken,” Forbes, March 19. Available from www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/03/19/chick-fil-a-ceo-cathy-gay-marriage-still-wrong-but-ill-shut-up-about-it-and-sell-chicken [Accessed: January 12, 2015].
2012. Normal Organizational Wrongdoing: A Critical Analysis of Theories of Misconduct in and by Organizations. Oxford University Press.
, , and
2010. “A tale of two assets: The effects of firm reputation and celebrity on earnings surprises and investors’ reactions,” Academy of Management Journal
53(5): 1131–1152.Google Scholar
and
2003. “Media legitimation effects in the market for initial public offerings,” Academy of Management Journal
46(5): 631–642.Google Scholar
, , and
2006. “Celebrity firms: The social construction of market popularity,” Academy of Management Review
31(1): 50–71.Google Scholar
and
2004. “Is greener whiter? Voluntary environmental performance of western ski areas,” Policy Studies Journal
32(3): 417–437.Google Scholar
and
2001. “Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion,” Personality and Social Psychology Review
5(4): 296–320.Google Scholar
and
1997. Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company, One Cup at a Time. New York: Hyperion.
2014. “Millennials’ bold new business plan: Corporations with a conscience,” Salon, January 20. Available from www.salon.com/2014/02/09/millennials_bold_new_business_plan_corporations_with_a_conscience [Accessed: January 9, 2015].
and
1987. “Social judgment and social memory: The role of cue diagnosticity in negativity, positivity, and extremity biases,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
52(4): 689–699.Google Scholar
and
2008. “Ethical decision making: Where we've been and where we're going,” Academy of Management Annals
2(1): 545–607.Google Scholar
, and
2014. “(Un) Ethical behavior in organizations,” Annual Review of Psychology
65: 635–660.Google Scholar
1999. “The dark side of organizations: Mistake, misconduct, and disaster,” Annual Review of Sociology
25: 271–305.Google Scholar
2003. “Constructive and destructive deviance in organizations,” Academy of Management Review
28(4): 622–632.Google Scholar
and
1999. “Issues in the dimensional structure of affect – Effects of descriptors, measurement error, and response formats: Comment on Russell and Carroll,” Psychological Bulletin
125(5): 601–610.Google Scholar
2010. “Financial edgework and the persistence of rogue traders,” Business and Society Review
115: 1–25.Google Scholar
and
2015. “Celebrity or infamy? The consequences of revealing an organization's identity,” Working Paper, Rice University.
- 6
- Cited by