When Does Medici Hurt Davinci? Mitigating the Signaling Effect of Extraneous Stakeholder Relationships in the Field of Cultural Production

Academy of Management Journal, Forthcoming

60 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2016 Last revised: 16 Dec 2016

See all articles by Yuliya Shymko

Yuliya Shymko

Vlerick Business School

Thomas J. Roulet

King’s College London; University of Oxford - Said Business School

Date Written: July 31, 2016

Abstract

Does corporate philanthropy have an indiscriminately positive effect on recipients? Our baseline argument asserts that relationships with stakeholders outside the field, such as corporate donors, can be perceived as a deviation from the dominant logic at the industry level, and thus as a negative signal by peers. How can recipients mitigate this adverse effect on social evaluations? To answer this question we study how corporate benefaction affects the process of peer recognition in the context of Russian theaters (2004-2011). Firstly, we engage in a qualitative exploration of our setting to contextualize our hypotheses and understand how relationships with corporate donors, depending on their characteristics, affect peer recognition. We then quantitatively test our hypotheses and confirm that the salience of the relationship with extraneous stakeholders - operationalized as the number of corporate donors - has a negative effect on peer recognition. This effect however can be mitigated if theaters choose to limit the breadth, depth and negative valence of the relationship. We contribute to both the institutional logics and stakeholder literature by bringing in a signaling perspective: we show that peer recognition, upon which the maintenance of a dominant logic lies, is directly impacted by the nature of relationships with extraneous stakeholders.

Keywords: Corporate Philanthropy, Stakeholder Relationships, Institutional Logics, Signaling, Cultural Organizations

Suggested Citation

Shymko, Yuliya and Roulet, Thomas J., When Does Medici Hurt Davinci? Mitigating the Signaling Effect of Extraneous Stakeholder Relationships in the Field of Cultural Production (July 31, 2016). Academy of Management Journal, Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2816535

Yuliya Shymko

Vlerick Business School ( email )

Library
REEP 1
Gent, BE-9000
Belgium

Thomas J. Roulet (Contact Author)

King’s College London ( email )

Strand
London, England WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

University of Oxford - Said Business School ( email )

Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 1HP
Great Britain

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