Straight OUTTA Detroit: Embracing Stigma as Part of the Entrepreneurial Narrative

Through an inductive field study, we set out to better understand how and why ventures would embrace a non‐core stigma; this is perplexing given that a majority of stigma literature suggests that organizations tend to avoid/disidentify from stigmatized entities. To do so, we study organizational loc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of management studies 2022-12, Vol.59 (8), p.1915-1949
Main Authors: Cowden, Birton J., Bendickson, Joshua S., Mathias, Blake D., Solomon, Shelby J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
field study
locational stigma
Narratives
organizational distinctiveness
organizational stigma
Stigma
Ventures
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Summary:Through an inductive field study, we set out to better understand how and why ventures would embrace a non‐core stigma; this is perplexing given that a majority of stigma literature suggests that organizations tend to avoid/disidentify from stigmatized entities. To do so, we study organizational locational stigma, which we define as a label arising from an organization's geographic location that evokes a collective stakeholder group‐specific perception that an organization possesses a fundamental, deep‐seated flaw that deindividuates and discredits the organization. Our findings from Detroit, Michigan reveal that entrepreneurs embrace the locational stigma by taking part in Detroit's underdog narrative and comeback story. Entrepreneurs use the underdog narrative in hope of differentiating their ventures from those in other locations, while they leverage the comeback story to gain access to the resources and in‐group advantages. We thus advance the concept of locational stigma and show how it can benefit organizations.
ISSN:0022-2380
1467-6486
DOI:10.1111/joms.12839