Constructing Cleantech: The Role of Sense-Giving in the Formation of Fields.

[摘要] This dissertation focuses attention on the communities of organizations who act as field-level sense-givers– the actors and organizations that seek to convince others that a new area of economic activity is forming, name it, and influence its definition – and asks the following questions: Who are the meaning makers in forming fields? What are actors trying to accomplish in contributing to meaning construction in a forming field? How do actors assert their preferred meanings and convince others to adopt them? To address these questions, this dissertation analyzes the emerging economic sector of cleantech through a mixed methods design. Using a content analysis of press releases from a population of cleantech companies, I find that professional service firms and social movement organizations are more likely to try to influence perceptions of the new economic field than producers or funders. As the field matures, differences among organization type in sense-giving largely disappear. The pattern of sense-giving across organization type and time is predicted by an entrepreneurial opportunity framework supporting the theory that organizations act purposively to advantageously structure the symbolic environments in which they operate.Using interviews and observations, I build theory about the methods actors use to influence meanings in the field. While much of the process of field formation was found to be collective, my study shows that the process begins with an individual sense-making process. This process is instigated by an individual seeing a gap between her understanding of the possibility for a new economic field represented by new economic activity and the interpretation perceived among his or her peer group. When this gap is met with appropriate personal incentives, individuals give sense about the new economic field to important audiences. I also find that they intensively recruit new members to the field. The recruiting offers an opportunity for the early sense-givers in the field to customize their message to the diverse audiences they wish to reach and directly explain the value of the new field. These findings further support the idea that economic fields do not form organically, but are purposely constructed by organizations for their benefit.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Cleantech

[关键词] Field Formation;Cleantech;Sense-making;Sociology;Social Sciences;Sociology and Business Administration