Gatekeeping and the Use of Contested Practices in Creative Industries: The Case of Fur in Fashion

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Godart, Frederic; Hsu, Greta; Negroc, Giacomo
• 署名单位: INSEAD Business School; University of California System; University of California Davis; Emory University
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2022.1591
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 637-656
• 关键词: creative industries; fashion; fur; GATEKEEPERS; social movements; status

摘要

In creative industries, a producer's choice to use specific cultural practices is often driven by considerations of industry-specific notions of creativity and artistic vision. Creative producers claim autonomy over which practices are deemed desirable or legitimate, creating resistance to influences from outside the industry, such as from social movements. This study proposes that in such contexts, externally-driven change depends on the role of prominent gatekeepers. We consider how shifts in their discourse translate and amplify external social movement pressures for producers. We further argue that higher-status producers respond more to the changing discourse of these gatekeepers, to whom they aremore tightly connected. This leads to a dynamic that is counterintuitive in the context of creative industries in which higher-status producers, who can benefit most from preserving the status quo, show greater responsiveness to external pressures when translated through gatekeeper discourse. Our empirical analysis uses a unique data set related to a prototypical contested practice: fur use in high-end fashion. These findings highlight the complex role of gatekeepers in creative industries and indirect pathways through which external social movements drive change.