A General Theory of Organizational Stigma Academic Article

abstract

• In recent years, the term stigma has been widely applied to organizations. However, scholars have yet to advance a theoretically consistent definition or comprehensive theory of organizational stigma. The purpose of this paper is to define the construct of organizational stigma and provide a general theory that explains the conditions under which organizational stigmas are likely to arise, how this process unfolds, and the initial effects stigmas inflict on organizations. In doing so, we distinguish organizational stigma from both individual-level stigma and the organizational-level constructs of reputation, status, celebrity, and legitimacy. We then build upon multiple streams of research to develop a richer theoretical explanation of the roles social context, social processes, and social actors play in the origination and effects of an organizational stigma.

authors

• Devers, Cynthia

published proceedings

• ORGANIZATION SCIENCE

altmetric score

• 20.5

author list (cited authors)

• Devers, C. E., Dewett, T., Mishina, Y., & Belsito, C. A.

citation count

• 235

complete list of authors

• Devers, Cynthia E||Dewett, Todd||Mishina, Yuri||Belsito, Carrie A

publication date

• January 2009

publisher

• Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)  Publisher

published in

• Organization science  Journal

keywords

• Disidentification
• Organizational Stigma
• Social Control
• Social Evaluation
• Stigma Origination
• Value Incongruence

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1287/orsc.1080.0367

start page

• 154

end page

• 171

volume

• 20

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1080.0367