最佳显著性理论
产品类别
现存分类群
论证(复杂分析)
产品(数学)
连贯性(哲学赌博策略)
显著性(神经科学)
认知心理学
心理学
社会心理学
数学
统计
进化生物学
生物化学
化学
几何学
生物
作者
Jean‐François Soublière,Jade Lo,Eunice Yunjin Rhee
标识
DOI:10.5465/amj.2022.0105
摘要
How does the viability of a product category shift over time? Studies abound on how categories emerge and become established, or fall out of use. Yet extant research often examined the evolution of categories one at a time, leaving open the question of how related categories affect a focal category’s viability. In contrast, we consider both intra- and inter-category dynamics. Viewing categories as continuously shaped by actors’ efforts to position their products, we argue that these efforts not only alter the coherence that products exhibit within a category (a category’s heterogeneity), but also across related categories (a category’s distinctiveness). We theorize how the interaction between a category’s heterogeneity and distinctiveness shape its subsequent viability. When a focal category’s distinctiveness is low, the heterogeneity–viability relationship takes an inverted U-shape. But as distinctiveness grows, the relationship flattens and eventually flips to a U-shape. We explain this flip by considering the trade-off between the ‘classification’ and ‘valuation’ benefits that a category affords. We find support for our argument by tracking 170 categories over an 11-year period on Kickstarter, one of the largest crowdfunding platforms. By providing a nuanced understanding of category dynamics, we shed new light onto the fluctuating viability of categories.
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