In my research, I explore how organizations influence audience evaluations and, in turn, market outcomes by strategically managing the building blocks of meaning systems such as categories, frames, and evaluation criteria. I examine these issues in two connected lines of research. In my first line of research, I examine how markets emerge, change, and decline, and how organizations partake in such processes to shape markets to their advantage. In my second line of research, I focus on the strategic role of language in financial markets. In particular, I examine how organizations influence audience interpretations of their actions, and what determines the extent of an audience’s favorable evaluation.

​These two streams of research share a common theme in that I use language as a lens through which to understand how organizational phenomena are socially constructed. My research program lies at the intersection of organization theory and strategic management as I investigate how organizations draw on as well as actively shape meaning systems, and also demonstrate the effect of such organizational undertakings on social evaluation and financial performance of firms.

Publications:          

• Harmon, D., Rhee, E. Y., & Cho, Y. 2023. Building a bridge to the future: Prospective legitimation in nascent markets. Strategic Management Journal, Forthcoming.
• Soublière, J.-F., Lo, J. Y., & Rhee, E. Y. 2023. Coherence within and across Categories: The Dynamic Viability of Product Categories on Kickstarter. Academy of Management Journal. Forthcoming. 

​          – Winner, Best Entrepreneurship Paper Award, Organization and Management Theory (OMT) Division, Academy of Management Meeting, 2022.

• Lo, J. Y., & Rhee, E. Y. 2022. Too Much, Too Soon: A Framework for Understanding Unintended Consequences of Cultural Entrepreneurship on Market Emergence. In C. Lockwood, & J-F. Soublière (Eds.), Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Advances in Cultural Entrepreneurship), vol 80: 157–178. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Lo, J. Y., Fiss, P. C., Rhee, E. Y., & Kennedy, M. T. 2020. Category Viability: Balanced Levels of Coherence and Distinctiveness. Academy of Management Review, 45(1): 85–108.

​           – Finalist, Best Article Award, Academy of Management Review, 2021.

• .Rhee, E. Y., Lo, J. Y., Fiss, P. C. & Kennedy, M. T. 2017. Things That Last? Category Creation, Imprinting, and Durability. In R. Durand, N. Granqvist, & A. Tyllström (Eds.), Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations, and Strategy at the Crossroads), vol. 51: 295–325. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Rhee, E. Y. & Fiss, P. C. 2014. Framing Controversial Actions: Regulatory Focus, Source Credibility, and Stock Market Reaction to Poison Pill Adoption. Academy of Management Journal, 57(6): 1734–1758.

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Selected Research in Progress:

• ​​Rhee, E. Y., & Lo, J. Y. [Edutainment] Under review. 
• Rhee, E. Y., Lo, J. Y., & Durand, R. [Plant-based met]. Under review.