Administrative Science Quarterly Online Table of Contents Alert
The December 2024 issue of Administrative Science Quarterly Vol. 69, No. 4 is available online:
In this issue you can read about the contingent effects of organizational rankings, race and gender in hiring and turnover, entrepreneurship, state-led destigmitization, and learning from ambiguous experience, along with book reviews about the world of global art, groups, and the social construction of markets. Together, these articles and reviews deepen our understanding of the state, category stigma, competition, inequality, and inferential learning.
From Foe to Friend: Exploring State-Led Destigmatization
Milo Shaoqing Wang and Christopher W. J. Steele
How do state actors reverse course when a previously stigmatized category is seen as necessary for an economy’s development? In a fascinating longitudinal case study, Wang and Steele examine the revival of private business in China, a move that fundamentally challenged state ideology. A grounded process model shows how the public gradually came to accept the category through front and backstage actions of state and category members. The findings reveal that states—even authoritarian ones— cannot rely solely on coercion and have internal divisions and regional variation that shape the moral and pragmatic values of a category.
Falling Fortunes: The Contingent and Asymmetric Effect of Rankings on Organizational Outcomes
Wyatt Y. Lee
From hospitals to universities, organizational rankings are everywhere. But when do rankings matter? By examining Fortune 500 rankings and a natural experiment, this study finds four contextual and organizational factors that shape the relevance and information value of rankings: the direction of the change in rank, the amount of other information about the firm available, the level of audience sophistication, and the organization’s previous ranking position. The author shows that the effects of organizational rankings are asymmetric and contingent, as falls matter more than rises and the amount of substitutable and audience knowledge matters.
This Is Why I Leave: Race and Voluntary Departure
Adina D. Sterling
Labor market mobility has significant consequences for individual careers. Much is known about what explains who is hired and promoted, but why do employees leave jobs? This study uses a U.S. cohort sample to examine how resources associated with race influence voluntary departures. Sterling finds that Black workers are more likely to quit due to resource constraints (such as lack of transportation), whereas White workers are more likely to quit due to resource availability (such as to start a new business). The findings have important implications for understanding race, inequality, and voluntary turnover.
Blog post is here.
The Dynamics of Inferential Interpretation in Experiential Learning: Deciphering Hidden Goals from Ambiguous Experience
Bryan Spencer and Claus Rerup
How does a group learn when the goals of other actors in its environment are deliberately hidden? The rise of decentralized organizational structures has created ambiguous experiences, making interpretation more challenging and allowing sets of actors to conceal their actions and motives. Studying two groups in an online cryptocurrency investment community, Spencer and Rerup explain how one group learned to make collective and accurate inferences in the face of coordinated market-manipulation fraud committed by the other group. The findings highlight a dynamic process by which inferences can be drawn from ambiguous experience.
Blog post is here.
Cultural Norms and the Gendered Impact of Entrepreneurship Policy in Mexico
Grady W. Raines, Peter S. Polhill, Shon R. Hiatt, and Ryan S. Coles
Policies reducing barriers to entrepreneurship can help underrepresented groups, but this study shows that lack of normative and cognitive support can actually undermine the goals of such policies. The authors look at changes in the entrepreneurial gap between men and women in Mexico after a policy change intended to lower barriers to entry. They find that the policy increased the rate of men’s but not women’s entry into entrepreneurship, and it also led women to take on new, unpaid roles in new ventures. They explain the variation by detailing how areas with a strong patriarchy can interact with such policies.
Blog post is here.
Who Shortlists? Evidence on Gender Disparities in Hiring Outcomes
Almasa Sarabi and Nico Lehmann
Hiring practices are a known source of gender disparities in the workplace. Investigating a multinational firm’s adoption of a new hiring process that transferred the task of shortlisting from hiring managers to HR departments, the authors find that the number of women hired increased after the new process. They find evidence suggesting a differential evaluation mechanism, as the HR professionals spent more time on and had higher expert knowledge for creating a shortlist, compared to the managers. The study provides valuable new insights about potential mechanisms for understanding and reducing gender disparities in hiring decisions.
Book Reviews
Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Lodve the Free Market
J. Adam Cobb
Jason Davis. Digital Relationships: Network Agency Theory and Big Tech
David Obstfeld
Rainer Kattel, Wolfgang Drechsler, and Erkki Karo. How to Make an Entrepreneurial State: Why Innovation Needs Bureaucracy
Ron Adner
Gary Alan Fine and Tim Hallett. Group Life: An Invitation to Local Sociology
Timothy R. Hannigan
Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
Alex Murray
Sophie Mützel. Making Sense: Markets from Stories in New Breast Cancer Therapeutics
Mia Chang-Zunino
Larissa Buchholz. The Global Rules of Art: The Emergence and Divisions of a Cultural World Economy
Paul DiMaggio
Jennifer Burns. Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative
Andrew J. Hoffman
ASQ articles have often been featured on Henrich Greve’s blog site Organizational Musings. Our student-run ASQ Blog features interviews with ASQ authors that offer insights into the research and writing process. To stay informed, follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter on Substack for all the latest ASQ announcements and information.
Christine Beckman, University of California, Santa Barbara
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Christine Beckman
University of Southern California
Santa Barbara CA
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