Social Movements and Market Categories: Bridging the Quantitative and Qualitative Research Divide

New market categories bring economic growth and renewal as well as new products and services to consumers. Traditionally, scholars have examined how these new market categories are generated from technological innovations. But, as greater focus has been placed on the role of social actors in market spaces, some researchers have begun examining market category emergence as the product of social movement efforts. Prior studies have broadened our understanding of the relationship between social movements and new market categories–yet, many gaps remain between the micro- processes driving meaning creation and the more macro outcomes of market entry. This symposium brings together new qualitative and quantitative research on social movements and their impact on entrepreneurial activity and the emergence of new market categories. By combining studies that draw from rich contextual detail with research that uses extrapolation to detect broader patterns, we hope to synthesize new understandings as well as identif...