Notions of Identity: Brokerage Technologies as Facilitators of Contemporary Authenticity

• In Event: 413 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Refereed Roundtable Session. Table 01. Culture and Organizations
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 08. Institutional Encounters

Abstract

I use the case of US independent record stores to ask to what extent surviving music retail firms have adapted in the wake of technological innovation and whether changes among independent record stores follow any pattern in their development. Through a multi-method content analysis of industry and media documents, I present network visualizations to isolate how record store organizational identity is articulated in public discourse over time. The resulting independent record store identity differs in important ways from its historical reference yet I argue these differences are generally accepted due to highly valued contemporary authenticity of the independent record store. I credit a portion of this authenticity to a “late-stage renaissance” that has opened new niche opportunities for retailers to diversify products and services without significant threat of sanctions. Additionally, I make a case for a hybrid form of contemporary authenticity made possible through the use of vinyl records as a brokerage technology. The study extends work on organizational form and identity as well as the organizational construction of authenticity by identifying the vital role of symbolic value in evolving markets.

Author

• Jerome M Hendricks, University of Illinois at Chicago