Not All Types of Social Networks Are Good: The Dual Effects of Social Networks on Courtesy Stigma

Tian, Longwei; Li, Peter Ping; Xie, En; Li, Yuan

doi:10.1017/mor.2021.71

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 76 publications

(149 reference statements)

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“…Their concealed patterns are illustrated in, for example, research on banks’ treatment of those targeted with the label of bankruptcy (Sutton & Callahan, 1987) and work on networks of elites evaluating executives involved in failures, bankruptcy, and scandals (Wiesenfeld et al, 2013). This less public shunning and isolation extend to those that have socially or economically engaged with or supported the target (Jonsson et al, 2009; Tian et al, 2022). Future work on these two types of stigmatizing audiences may consider which sanctioners can be more impactful, given how they influence targets differently.…”

Section: A Relational Research Agenda For the Study Of Stigmamentioning

confidence: 99%

Standing on the Shoulders of Goffman: Advancing a Relational Research Agenda on Stigma

et al. 2023

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Drawing from Goffman’s original observations on stigma and the consequences of interactions between the stigmatized and supportive or stigmatizing audiences, we conduct a 20-year review of the diverse literature on stigma to revisit the collective nature of stigmatization processes. We find that studies on stigma’s origins, responses, processes, and outcomes have diverged from Goffman’s relational view of stigma as they have overlooked important relational mechanisms explaining the processes of (de)stigmatization. We draw from those conclusions to justify the need to study stigma as a collective phenomenon. We develop a relational perspective on stigma based on understanding how attributes are stigmatized (or not) by audiences in their interactions. We argue that to advance stigma research, it is necessary to build on Goffman’s theory to include the stigmatizers (i.e., the normal) and supporters (i.e., the wise); how they create, sustain, or remove stigma; and how they relate to the stigmatized (i.e., the targets). Accordingly, we provide a research agenda on stigma as a collective phenomenon that theorizes a relational perspective, proposes a typology of how audiences relate to stigmatization, and identifies patterns of relations between audiences. We thus offer a missing piece to existing accounts of stigma by focusing on the key role of audiences (i.e., stigmatizers or supporters of the stigmatized) rather than on the targets of stigma (i.e., the own).

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Section: A Relational Research Agenda For the Study Of Stigmamentioning

confidence: 99%

Standing on the Shoulders of Goffman: Advancing a Relational Research Agenda on Stigma

et al. 2023

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Departures of Tainted Outside Directors: A Threshold Approach From Two Competing Theoretical Perspectives

Tian,

Wang,

Xia

et al. 2024

Business & Society

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Although a tainted outside director’s social status may serve as a buffer against devaluation owing to an affiliate firm’s corporate financial misconduct, the extent of this buffer effect is unclear. We propose a threshold approach by introducing the expectancy violation perspective, which generates a theoretical tension from the network-embeddedness perspective, to clarify the following question: From which perspective does the buffer effect of social status become more salient? Specifically, we propose an inverted U–shaped relationship between the directors’ social status and the departure of tainted outside directors from host firms. We theorize that when directors’ social status exceeds a certain threshold, the network-embeddedness perspective is more dominant than the expectancy violation perspective. Moreover, a host firm’s external stakeholder attention and board social status moderate the inverted-U effect such that its turning point shifts to the right because such contingencies increase the threshold for the buffer. Using a sample of tainted outside directors penalized for associated firms’ financial misconduct, we find evidence that supports our predictions. Our study helps clarify the boundary between the competing theoretical perspectives of expectancy violation and network embeddedness to explain the phenomenon of tainted director departure.

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Not All Types of Social Networks Are Good: The Dual Effects of Social Networks on Courtesy Stigma

Cited by 2 publications

References 76 publications

Standing on the Shoulders of Goffman: Advancing a Relational Research Agenda on Stigma

Standing on the Shoulders of Goffman: Advancing a Relational Research Agenda on Stigma

Departures of Tainted Outside Directors: A Threshold Approach From Two Competing Theoretical Perspectives

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