Abstract
How can diverse organizational participants in emerging fields coalesce around a collective identity when they are embedded in different cultures, traditions, and institutional logics? Specifically, what factors can enhance the emergence of a collective identity within a nascent field and what issues can cause such an identity to break down? This paper examines these questions using the case of Grid computing, a field that developed the technological precursor of today’s disruptive Cloud Computing technology. Drawing on field work conducted at the Open Grid Forum – a major voluntary standards institution within the Grid field – as well as interviews, historical documents, and participation indicators, this paper suggests that fields composed of organizations that hold widely different perspectives use a form of flexible standards development that we call ‘dance patterns’ to coordinate the construction of a pluralistic collective identity. Moreover, this paper show this pluralistic identity can fragment in response to pressures originating from competing fields.
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