Abstract
AbstractThe management fashion literature has highlighted the role played by business media (i.e. print media outlets) in the diffusion and dissemination of new management concepts and ideas. However, in the last few years, we have witnessed the emergence of social media. Recent research has shown a widespread adoption and usage of social media both in among the general public and professionals in the business community. To date, however, management fashion researchers have not addressed the question of whether social media change the structure and workings of the management fashion market and the ways in which management concepts and ideas are diffused. This article provides a preliminary conceptual elaboration and analysis of how different social media platforms may influence the diffusion and dissemination of fashionable concepts and ideas. The analysis has several implications for research on management fashion.
Highlights
One important reason for this is that business media function as communication channels where other fashion-arena actors can provide discourse related to concepts and ideas
Increased interest in a fashion triggers bandwagon effects on the supply-side as actors such as consulting would like to get in on the action and get a piece of the market associated with a given concept (David & Strang, 2006; Klincewicz, 2006). It is unclear how social media influence the virality of management ideas, but it is clear that some ideas “go viral” online (Berger & Milkman, 2012) in ways not seen in print media
Contributions The current paper set out to provide a conceptual elaboration of the role of social in relation to management fashions
Summary
Management fashion researchers point out that actors such as consulting firms, management gurus, business schools, and business media operate as a “fashion-setting community” (Abrahamson, 1996) or “management fashion arena” (Clark, 2004b; Jung & Kieser, 2012; Kieser, 1997; Klincewicz, 2006; Madsen & Slåtten, 2013) around a management idea. These fashion-arena actors facilitate an idea’s “ability to flow” in the management community (Røvik, 2002) and perform different types of institutional activities which help raise awareness of the idea and support its long-term viability as a practice (Nielsen, Mathiassen, & Newell, 2014; Perkmann & Spicer, 2008). Social media can function as meeting places where fashion consumers are exposed to and develop relationships with suppliers of management concepts and ideas (e.g. consultants and software firms), as well as other users
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