Engineering Legitimacy

Through the lens of the fashion industry, Iva Petkova explores not only how institutionalized organizations react and adapt to the rise of start-up outsiders, but also how these outside "disruptors" seek to cultivate legitimacy and win influence. In so doing, she reflects upon a longstanding question in the sociology of organizations and neo-institutional theory: How do institutionalized organizations in creative industries resolve the inherent conflict between art and commerce, particularly in a changing institutional environment? Engineering Legitimacy outlines the processes through which E-Commerce and Social Commerce companies in fashion disturb and reconstruct the industry, crosscutting their technical field of expertise and looking to legitimize their innovative practice in the institutionally elaborated field of fashion. Through analysis of an emerging culture of innovation collectively created by start-up outsider disruptors, this book contemplates how fashion-technology companies culminate their quest for legitimacy by transforming their moral narratives into codified, acceptable commercial practice and gaining lasting influence over the commercial digital operations of fashion companies.