Protests as a Double-Edged Sword in Emerging Industries: Evidence from the Commercial Drone Industry

Abstract

Although emerging industries are increasingly seen as the outcome of social movement processes, protests have seldom been studied as sources of the liabilities of newness. We find that that anti- technology protests exert two effects: on the one hand, they amplify perceptions of risk about the new technology and impede entrepreneurial entry, but on the other hand, protests create a demand for regulation, and in turn, regulations authorize a new technology and facilitate entrepreneurial entry. Thus, protests are a double-edged sword in emerging industries; they produce liabilities of newness by constructing risk, but attenuate the liabilities of newness due to their effects on regulation. We discuss the implications for social movements, entrepreneurship, and science and technology studies.