POLISHING THE GILT EDGE: ELITE CATEGORY ENDURANCE AND SYMBOLIC BOUNDARIES IN US LUXURY HOTELS, 1790-2015

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lockwood, Christi; Glynn, Mary Ann; Giorgi, Simona
• 署名单位: University of Virginia; Harvard University; University of Bath
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2020.0201
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 9-42
• 关键词: PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM; ORGANIZATIONAL STATUS; institutional change; IDENTITY; industry; entrepreneurship; legitimacy; strategies; MOVEMENT; DYNAMICS

摘要

We conducted an inductive study of discourse associated with the U.S. luxury hotel cate-gory, from its beginnings in 1790 through 2015, to explain how cultural processes con-tribute to elite category endurance. Analyzing data from historical archives, interviews, and observations, we use both qualitative and quantitative methods to reveal how the endurance of an elite category is an ongoing cultural accomplishment that occurs via periodic redefinition of its symbolic boundary-that is, the set of meanings and prac-tices that distinguish the elite from nonelite. Modeling the boundary in terms of semiotic codes of opposition, we find that the encoding of the symbolic boundary serves as a temporary settlement that conveys both the category's elite exclusivity and its cultural consonance with broader societal beliefs, tastes, and practices. Over time, however, with industry and societal changes, tensions erupt in the balance between the needs for exclu-sivity and consonance, propelling a redefinition of what it means to be elite. Our research extends current theorizations of elite category endurance by revealing how the elite symbolic boundary is neither permanent nor unassailable; rather, we show how it changes to enable long-term elite category endurance.