Managerial SummaryĬraft categories often emerge by opposing large, dominant corporations.

Therefore, taking an identity lens, our study explores the following research question: As members sell to incumbents, how do the remaining members of the oppositional category attempt to maintain the distinctiveness of the collective identity? Our findings reveal incumbents' acquisitions of oppositional members open the opportunity to elevate the importance of ownership (independence) as a distinctive identity code.

However, we lack theoretical insights into how oppositional category members respond as (former) members defect by joining the incumbent category they challenge and ideologically oppose. In doing so, these oppositional categories, especially craft-based ones, emphasize their size (small), ownership (independence), and production methods (traditional) as important identity codes-critical for maintaining their distinctiveness from the incumbent category. Oppositional categories emerge in direct ideological opposition to incumbent mass producers.

What does it mean to sell your soul