Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2016

Abstract

We study the effects of actors' audience-specific reputations on their levels of success with different audiences in the same field. Extending recent work that has emphasized the presence of multiple audiences with different concerns, we demonstrate that considering audience specificity leads to an improved understanding of reputation effects. Using data on emerging artists in the field of contemporary art from 2001 to 2010, we investigate the manner in which artists' audience-specific reputations affect their subsequent success with two distinct audiences: museums and galleries. Our findings suggest that audience-specific reputations have systematically different effects with respect to success with museums and galleries. Our findings also illuminate the extent to which audience-specific reputations are relevant for emerging research on the contingent effects of reputation. In particular, our findings support our predictions that audiences differ from one another in terms of the extent to which other signals (specifically, status and interaction with other audiences) enhance or reduce the value of audience-specific reputations. Our study thus advances theory by providing empirical evidence for the value of incorporating audience-specific reputations into the general study of reputation.

Keywords

Reputation, art industry

Discipline

Arts Management | Business | Strategic Management Policy

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Academy of Management Journal

Volume

59

Issue

1

First Page

113

Last Page

134

ISSN

0001-4273

Identifier

10.5465/amj.2013.0621

Publisher

Academy of Management

Copyright Owner and License

Journal

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0621

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