The Denigration of Heroes? How the Status Attainment Process Shapes Attributions of Considerateness and Authenticity

This article develops and tests a theory to explain the common tendency to “denigrate heroes,” whereby high-status actors are suspected of being inconsiderate and inauthentic relative to low-status counterparts. This tendency is argued to reflect two conditions typical of status attainment processes: (a) assertions of superiority over others and (b) the presence of incentives to pursue status. The latter is key since awareness of such incentives breeds suspicions of inauthenticity, which in turn undermine perceptions of prosocial intentions. This theory is validated in a series of online experiments, in which categorical status hierarchies emerge either via deference on a coordinated task or via competitive interactions. Results show that high-status actors may also be “celebrated” as authentic and considerate when the observable incentive structure is such that assertions of superiority appear as unintended by-products of prosocial action. Implications are drawn regarding the sources of instability and insecurity in status hierarchies

Essays on the causes and responses to shifts in demand for authenticity

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-136).This dissertation includes three essays on the causes and responses to shifts in demand for authenticity. In the first chapter, I answer the question: why do previously cast-off products, practices, or styles abruptly return to popularity? I use a mixed-methods approach in analyzing archival data on the case of venue design in Major League Baseball throughout the twentieth century. My analysis of the baseball industry, including comparison to the professional football industry (NFL) as a counterfactual case, shows that the re-emergence of a once popular, but long-forsaken style arose in response to fan concern over the increased prominence of an ulterior, mercenary motive for performance. I argue and show that this "commitment crisis" invalidated the prevailing popular style, and in its place the retro ballpark style was valued as an expression faithful to the traditional roots of the industry. In the second chapter, I describe one of the causes for shifts in demand for authenticity. In this essay we develop theory that addresses the tendency for high-status actors to be deemed less considerate and more inauthentic than low-status actors. We argue that this tendency stems from two features of the typical status attainment process: (a) the incentive structure, through which the benefits of a high-status position encourage actors to feign capability and commitment, leading to suspicions of inauthenticity; and (b) the interaction process, in which the high-status actor asserts its superiority and another's inferiority, leading to suspicions of inconsiderateness. In the third chapter, I describe and show how firms can effectively reduce penalties for categorical deviance. This essay builds a bridge between the organizational impression management and status perspectives by showing how organizational status influences the effectiveness of anticipatory impression management tools like pre-emptive verbal accounts. We show that high-status firms are better off when they appear assertive in anticipatory impression management signaling - while the opposite is true for middle-status firms. Mediation analysis shows that the same type of framing is perceived differently depending on the status of the restaurant, but that too much perceived effort in framing the deviance will lead to negative results.by Oliver Hahl.Ph.D

Essays on social evaluation and its market outcomes

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 136-147).In my doctoral dissertation, I attempt to understand why and how an individual or organization's perceptions of commitment affect different market outcomes. This dissertation consists of three essays. In the first essay, I study the effect of organizational form on market performance in the diamond retail industry. Building on the notion that profit-oriented motives create the risk that sellers may not be committed to customers, I develop the argument that the chain form of organization generates beliefs about profit-oriented motives that give rise to the perception that small retailers have higher moral standing. I argue that when organizational actions are morally ambiguous but there is no explicit violation of a moral norm, consumers are less likely to penalize small organizations than large organizations, providing small stores with an advantage in the market. I use retailers' responses to "conflict diamonds"-diamonds that fund rebels in war zones-in the diamond retail industry as an empirical case of moral ambiguity. This argument is tested in a series of online experiments. I also empirically validate the implications of my finding using observations from diamond retailers' websites and field interviews. My second essay (coauthored with Renee Gosline and Ezra Zuckerman) illustrates that social valuation plays a role in shaping consumers' social acceptance of technological innovation. In this paper, we investigate a technological innovation in diamond production, namely, labmade diamonds. While this provides a more efficient way of achieving a given level of quality, consumers have generally been resistant to lab-made diamonds. We argue that one mechanism that drives this resistance is the use of a product in the performance of a social ritual. The underlying logic is that a deviation from the traditional rules of a ritual carries the risk of signaling a lack of commitment or cultural competence. In a series of experiments, we show that consumers are more resistant to lab-made diamonds when they buy diamond jewelry for an engagement gift, compared to when they buy diamond jewelry for a more routine gift. The perceived risk associated with the ritual is found to mediate consumers' resistance to lab-made diamonds. In the third essay (coauthored with Oliver Hahl), we argue that perceptions of commitment to the customer is an important demand-side factor that influence a firm's ability to diversify to related business lines. We focus on an emerging activity in the US behavioral health industry: the private equity-backed clinics. We show, through experiments on therapists in the field of behavioral health, the industry's key audience, that perceptions of commitment are influenced by a firm's authenticity and influence the firm's likelihood of selection after diversification from addiction recovery clinics into substance abuse and eating disorder clinics. This study makes important contributions through causal evidence of demand-side limits to the boundaries of a firm via perceptions of commitment.by Jae-Kyung Ha.Chapter 1. When mom-and-pops differ from chains: how perceptions of moral standing can be a competitive advantage, by Jae-Kyung Ha -- Chapter 2. "Can a girl's best friend be born in a lab?": the role of ritual in production process conservatism, by Jae-Kyung Ha with Renée Gosline and Ezra Zuckerman -- Chapter 3. Impressions of customer commitment in related diversification: why perceived authenticity can benefit diversifying firms, by Jae-Kyung Ha with Oliver Hahl.Ph. D