Overcoming Liability of Newness through Socialization : How Legitimation Strategies of a New Venture evolve
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2011-07-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Liability of newness, the tendency of new ventures to die early after market entry, results from lacking legitimacy in their new cultural context and according failure to acquire resources. Based on a longitudinal case study on repeated resource acquisition attempts of a new venture, we found that overcoming liability of newness depended on the socialization of the new venture to the normative environment on which it depended on for resources. Over time and across repeated resource acquisition attempts, socialization - the process of learning the use of legitimate symbols and their culturally contingent meanings - enabled the new venture to become the skillful cultural operator on which legitimation and resource acquisition was contingent. From our data, 'Accumulating a repertoire of legitimate symbols' and 'Assimilating the evaluations of resource-holders' emerged as the two primary mechanisms for new venture socialization. The study's contributions to related literature and its broader theoretical implications are discussed
Language
English
Keywords
Liability of Newness
New Ventures
Resource Acquisition
Legitimacy
Socialization
Institutional Theory (Normative Pillar)
Cultural Toolkit
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Book title
EGOS 2011: Reassembling Organizations
Publisher
EGOS European Group for Organizational Studies
Publisher place
Brüssel
Event Title
27th European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium
Event Location
Gothenburg
Event Date
06.-09.07.2011
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
72726