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 markets. In particular, I examine how organizations influence audience interpretations of their actions, and what determines the extent of an audience’s favorable evaluation.
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Publications:
- Rhee, E. Y., Lo, J. Y., & Durand, R. 2025. Meating Expectations: Category Legitimation and Transmutation. Organization Science, Forthcoming.
- Lo, J. Y., Rhee, E. Y., Kulkarni, A., 2025. Category dynamics in organization studies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management, Forthcoming.
- Soublière, J.-F., Lo, J. Y., & Rhee, E. Y. 2024. Coherence Within and Across Categories: The Dynamic Viability of Product Categories on Kickstarter. Academy of Management Journal, 67(1): 61-91.
- Harmon, D., Rhee, E. Y., & Cho, Y. 2023. Building a Bridge to the Future: Prospective Legitimation in Nascent Markets. Strategic Management Journal, 44(11): 2597-2633.
- 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.
- .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.