VHB ASSIOA LUISS 2025 Course

Organization and Management Theory

Discipline: Organization and Management Theory

1.   Language:

English

2.   Title:

Advanced Topics in Management and Organization Theory

3.   Faculty:

Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Delmestri, Professor of Organization Studies, LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome https://www.luiss.edu/faculty/356529

Prof. Dr. Filippo Carlo Wezel, Professor of Organization and Management, Director of the Institute of Management and Organization at the Faculty of Economics of Università della Svizzera Italiana — for a full bio see http://usi.to/f6g

4.   Date, Location, Contacts:

Online session: May 26^th 1.30 – 4.30 pm (link to be distributed to attendees)

June 16^th at 2.30 pm till June 19^th 5pm 2025, LUISS Guido Carli University, Viale Romania 32, 00197 Rome

Local academic contact: Prof. Giuseppe Delmestri gdelmestri@luiss.it

5.   Course Description:

5.1   Content and Learning Objectives:

This course is centered on broad topics related to social evaluation, from categorization to status, stigma, boundary work, moral legitimacy and inequality in organizations. The material ranges from ‘recent classics’ to papers fresh from print. After an introduction to these dimensions, we also will discuss the ontological, epistemological, and axiological (normative) assumptions in these works and how they affect the study design and our understandings of the role of us as researchers. Students will be asked to prepare in advance in order to present the main themes of the assigned literature and discuss empirical material with a hands-on approach.

Learning objectives:

• Exposure to advanced and emerging themes (and their established roots) in the field of management and organization
• Understanding the broad variety of methods (inductive, deductive, and abductive) used in the field in a complementary way and their epistemological background.
• Learning about abductive methods and Dos and Don’ts in abductive theorizing
• Recognizing and positioning diverse epistemological grounds in research papers. Practicing a reflexive approach towards the self as researcher and towards the discourse being developed throughout the course.

Target group:

• Doctoral students interested in organization and management topics.
• Doctoral students at later stages of their studies (promising candidates at initial stages will be considered).
• The course is aimed at students in organization and management disciplines but has applicability in other domains of social-economic science. Students of strategy, international management, operation and information management, human resource management and entrepreneurship should find value in this course.

5.2   Schedule:

Day 1: 26^th of May, 1.30pm-4.30pm (ONLINE) [GIUSEPPE & FILIPPO]

Afternoon (3 hours) – Introduction, assignments and rules of the game. Ontoepistemological Positioning. The case study GoBugsGo introduced by its protagonist Edgar Hohnetschäger as a starter.

Fryer, T. 2022. A short guide to ontology and epistemology: why everyone should be a realist. 2nd edition (https://tfryer.com/ontology-guide/)

Sage, D. J. (2025). Soil and organization studies: unearthing a ‘more-than-relational’ ethics towards non-humans. Organization Studies, 0(ja). https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406251317257

Day 2: 16^th of June, ca. 3.00pm-6.30pm

Afternoon (3.5 hours) — Boundary work and evaluation [GIUSEPPE & FILIPPO]

Lamont, M. and V. Molnár.  2002. The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology, 28: 167-195.

Zietsma, C. and T. B. Lawrence. 2010. Institutional work in the transformation of an organizational field: The interplay of boundary work and practice work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55: 189-221.

Gieryn, T. F. 1983. Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: Strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists. American Sociological Review: 781-795.

Abbott, A. 1995. Things of boundaries. Social research: 857-882.

Day 3: 17^th of June, ca. 9am-5pm

Morning (3.5 hours) – Categorization [FILIPPO & GIUSEPPE]

Hsu, G. and M. T. Hannan. 2005. Identities, genres, and organizational forms. Organization Science 16, 5: 474-90.

Ruef, M. and K. Patterson 2009. Credit and classification: The impact of industry boundaries in 19th century America, Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 486-520.

Kovács, Balázs, Greta Hsu, and Amanda Sharkey. 2024. “The Stickiness of Category Labels: Audience Perception and Evaluation of Producer Repositioning in Creative Markets.” Management Science 70, 9: 6315-6335.

Hannan, M. T., Le Mens, G., Hsu, G., Kovács, B., Negro, G., Pólos, L., … & Sharkey, A. J. (2019). Concepts and categories: Foundations for sociological and cultural analysis. Columbia University Press.

Afternoon (3.5 hours) — Economic impact of categorization [FILIPPO & GIUSEPPE]

Ody-Brasier, A., & Vermeulen, F. 2014. The Price You Pay. Price-setting as a Response to Norm Violations in the Market for Champagne Grapes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59: 109-144.

Dupin, L., & Wezel, F. C. 2023. Artisanal or just half-baked: Competing collective identities and location choice among French bakeries. Administrative Science Quarterly, 68: 867-909.

Gouvard, P., Goldberg, A., & Srivastava, S. B. (2023). Doing organizational identity: Earnings surprises and the performative atypicality premium. Administrative Science Quarterly, 68(3), 781-823.

Bowers, A., & Prato, M. (2018). The structural origins of unearned status: How arbitrary changes in categories affect status position and market impact. Administrative Science Quarterly, 63(3), 668-699.

Kovács, B., Carnabuci, G., & Wezel, F. C. (2021). Categories, attention, and the impact of inventions. Strategic Management Journal, 42(5), 992-1023.

Day 4: 18^th of June, ca. 9am-5pm

Morning (3.5 hours) — Organizational status [FILIPPO & GIUSEPPE]

Podolny, J. M. 1993. A status-based model of market competition. American Journal of Sociology 98: 829-872.

Phillips, D.J. and Zuckerman, E.W. 2001. Middle-status conformity: Theoretical restatement and empirical demonstration in two markets. American Journal of Sociology, 107: 379-429.

Sands, D. B. 2025. Double‐edged stars: Michelin stars, reactivity, and restaurant exits in New York City. Strategic Management Journal, 46(1), 148-176.

Ody-Brasier, Amandine, and Amanda J. Sharkey, 2024.  “Accounting for negative attention: Status and costs in the market for audit services.” Organization Science 35: 1177-1202.

Prato, Matteo, Gokhan Ertug, Fabrizio Castellucci, and Tengjian Zou, 2024. “The status of status research: A review of the types, functions, levels, and audiences.” Journal of Management 50: 2266-2308.

Afternoon (3.5 hours) — Category dynamics [GIUSEPPE & FILIPPO]

Class laboratory on “Case Grappa” (please see the detailed instructions below)

Navis, C., & Glynn, M. A. (2010). How new market categories emerge: Temporal dynamics of legitimacy, identity, and entrepreneurship in satellite radio, 1990–2005. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55, 439–471.

Khaire, M., & Wadhwani, R. D. (2010). Changing landscapes: The construction of meaning and value in a new market category—modern Indian art. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 1281–1304.

Jones, C., Maoret, M., Massa, F. G., & Svejenova, S. (2012). Rebels with a cause: Formation, contestation, and expansion of the de novo category “modern architecture,” 1870–1975. Organization Science, 23, 1523–1545.

Siltaoja, M., Lähdesmaki, M., Grandqvist, N., Kurki, S., Puska, P., & Luomala, H. (2020). The dynamics of (de)stigmatization: Boundary construction in the nascent category of organic farming. Organization Studies, 41.

Day 5: 19^th of June, ca. 9am-5pm

Morning (3 hours) – Stigma and stigma dynamics [GIUSEPPE & FILIPPO]

Hudson, B. A., & Okhuysen, G. A. 2009. Not with a ten-foot pole: Core stigma, stigma transfer, and improbable persistence of men’s bathhouses. Organization Science, 20(1): 134–153.

Hampel, C. E., and P. Tracey. 2016. ‘How organizations move from stigma to legitimacy: The case of Cook’s Travel Agency in Victorian Britain. Academy of Management Journal, 60: 2175–2207.

Hsu, G., & Grodal, S. (2021). The double-edged sword of oppositional category positioning: A study of the US e-cigarette category, 2007–2017. Administrative Science Quarterly, 66(1), 86-132.

Weber, Klaus, Kathryn L. Heinze, and Michaela DeSoucey. 2008. Forage for Thought: Mobilizing Codes in the Movement for Grass-fed Meat and Dairy Products. Administrative Science Quarterly 53(3):529-67

Afternoon (3 hours) — Inequality in organizations [FILIPPO & GIUSEPPE]

Mair, J., Wolf, M. and Seelos, C. (2016). Scaffolding: A process of transforming patterns of inequality in small-scale societies. Academy of Management Journal, 59, 2021–44.

Padavic, I., Ely, R. J., & Reid, E. M. (2020). Explaining the persistence of gender inequality: The work–family narrative as a social defense against the 24/7 work culture. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1), 61-111.

Hwang, Kylie Jiwon, and Damon J. Phillips 2024. “Entrepreneurship as a response to labor market discrimination for formerly incarcerated people.” American Journal of Sociology 130: 88-146.

Meuris, J., & Merluzzi, J. 2024. A hidden barrier to diversification? Performance recognition penalties for incumbent workers in male-dominated occupations. American Sociological Review, 89: 256-297.

Hamann, R., & Bertels, S. (2018). The institutional work of exploitation: Employers’ work to create and perpetuate inequality. Journal of Management Studies, 55(3), 394-423.

Botelho, T. L., and M. Abraham. 2017. Pursuing Quality: How Search Costs and Uncertainty Magnify Gender-based Double Standards in a Multistage Evaluation Process. Administrative Science Quarterly

5.3   Course format:

The first online session aimed at introducing the course and assignments and developing an epistemological and reflexive understanding of research is organized in the following way:

• the case discussion is led by a professor or an assigned student.
• students will need to prepare the reading as they were all session leaders (below)

Then, the next sessions (apart the one with the grappa case study) are organized in the following way:

• one or more session leaders selected in advance among the participants introduce the topic of the session based on the listed papers (bolded and not bolded). Their task is not to summarize the papers that everybody is anyway required to read, but to introduce the plenary discussion highlighting in a high bird view the major themes of the papers, how the topic is placed within the overall literature and some critical issues. Session leaders are expected to prepare a presentation with up to 6 slides and to restrict their introduction to 10 minutes.
• In the rest of the session, we all together discuss each bolded paper in detail.
• The session ends with a short discussion (30 min.) of the epistemological positioning of the papers, highlighting the different aims and validity of contributions within the original approach and across other approaches.
• Sessions leaders will be informed in advance of the course of the topic/session to which they have been assigned.

The one session with the case study is organized in the following way:

• the case discussion is led by a professor or an assigned student.
• then the session continues as above
• Case discussion leaders will be informed in advance of the course.

6.   Preparation and Literature:

6.1   Prerequisites:

The course requires you to complete all assignments.

6.2  Essential Reading Material:

Essential reading material is formatted in bold.

6.3  Additional Reading Material:

Additional reading material is not formatted in bold. Sessions leaders are expected to also read this material.

6.4   To prepare:

See the assignments below.

7.   Administration

7.1   Max. number of participants:

16

7.2   Assignments

1. Read the essential reading material before class
2. Prepare up to 6 slides for a 10 minutes presentation of the session you are session leader (if applies, together with another participant)
3. Prepare an A1 format poster introducing yourself (some personal professional information and your area of interest and study)
4. Read the “Case Grappa” before class (will be made available to participants in due time) and apply Gioia, Corley and Hamilton’s (2013) approach in identifying first order concepts, second order themes and aggregate dimensions. Design a data structure using these concepts, themes and dimensions. You will be asked to develop your pre-class individual work in small groups during class. In class you will also develop in small groups a theoretical model. The groups’ elaborations will be finally compared with the published version of the analysis (Delmestri & Greenwood, 2016 ASQ – do not search or investigate the article before class! And if you already did, forget!)
   1. Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Hamilton, A. L. 2013. Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational Research Methods, 16(15): 15–31.
   1. [optional reading] Timmerman, S., Tavory, I. 2012. Theory Construction in Qualitative Research: From Grounded Theory to Abductive Analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3) 167–186
   1. [optional reading] Fryer, T. 2022. A critical realist approach to thematic analysis: producing causal explanations. Journal of Critical Realism, 21:4, 365-384

7.3   Exam

During the course you will be asked to produce two “One Pagers”, one by the mid of the course and one at its end. Confine one pagers to 500 words max., without over-committing with a longer paper. The proposal includes the title of the proposed article, a one sentence summary of the point the article will make or the question it will answer, followed by a commentary explaining why this is interesting, what is the claimed mechanism at work, why it brings novelty to the discussion, and what contribution you feel it might make to the literature. If you propose an empirical study, also include two to four sentences about a suitable setting and methodology. These are very short statements, so craft them carefully. Each one-pager will concern one of the topics seen so far, with a particular focus to the last ones discussed (i.e., for the second one, the sessions after the first one-pager).

7.4   Credits

6 ECTS

8.   Working Hours

Working Hours	Hours
Preparation Active participation Exams: Two one-pagers	40 100 40
SUM   ECTS	180 h   6