The paradox of being a food artisan entrepreneur: responding to conflicting institutional logics

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this study is to understand how artisanal food entrepreneurs acting as businesses, which are grounded in the logic of profit and growth, navigate the anti-growth constraints of artisanal logic. The study answers the research question of, how and when do the artisanal entrepreneurs respond to tensions between the small-scale craftsmanship logic and the business growth logic?Design/methodology/approachThis study consists of two cases of artisanal food entrepreneurs situated in rural regions of Sweden. The empirical material is collected through interviews, observations and secondary sources. The analysis consists of two steps: a narrative analysis and a categorization of institutional logics using Pache and Santos (2013) framework.FindingsOur findings show that the artisanal food entrepreneurs used several types of response to the tensions between the two institutional logics. As businesses grew, business growth logic increasingly penetrated the companies' operations. They responded by combining and blending the two logics and avoided growing too large themselves by collaborating with suppliers and local farmers. In addition, other activities needed to be compartmentalized and hidden since these activities could threaten their business images and their own criteria for small-scale food artisans.Originality/valueMuch work on how different institutional logics affect businesses have been on a structural level. This study answers the call on that more research is needed on an individual level by studying how individuals interpret logics and use them in their business activities.

Counter-Institutional Identities and Product Innovation: “Core-Satellite” as a Response to Competing Logics Shaping Artisan Businesses

“…The resilience of artisan business as a hybrid organization can be achieved by the incompatible logics based on the elastic hybridity with which the compatibility between logics can change over time (Gümüsay et al, 2020). Core–Satellite further elaborates and extends the compartmentalization strategy with which hybrid organizations separate logics to follow their demands in different times and places (Battilana & Lee, 2014; Lindbergh & Schwartz, 2021). By exploring a new response, our finding supports the argument made by Norman et al (2004) in a way that organizations will be likely to have better performance when successfully respond to multiple logics in comparison with those that respond to single logic.…”

“…Kraatz and Block (2008, p. 244) define hybrid organizations as “the structural embodiment or incarnation of multiple logics” leading to the fact that “multiple things to multiple people.” When organizations are located in a multiple-logic environment or under pressure from more than one logic, the action at the organizational level and the individual in that organization faces diverse requests and then may be at risk of the consequences resulting from conflicting power and directions of logics (Laihonen & Kokko, 2023; Pache & Thornton, 2020). As stated by Hoyte (2019), artisan business owners “utilize their passion and creativity to make and sell handmade products linked to their cultural heritage because of their openness to newness and openness to innovation.” In front of global mass consumption and changing needs of the market, the artisan business is put on the brink of change for survival and growth (Bislimi, 2022; Lindbergh & Schwartz, 2021). Openness to newness and innovation is one of the critical factors seducing artisan business owners to combine the intangible values of cultural heritage and their creativity with craft production and trading.…”

Evolution of entrepreneurship research in the food sector: a bibliometric review

“…This paper contributes to the academic literature with a bibliometric review of research on entrepreneurship and the food sector at a crucial moment for the world economy, the Covid'19 health crisis, and has several theoretical implications. Firstly, although there are already papers that have studied entrepreneurship in the food sector (Tajvidi and Tajvidi, 2021; Lindbergh and Schwartz, 2021), a bibliometric analysis of publications on both topics had not been carried out. We then contribute by providing knowledge on the research developed by providing information on the evolution of the research, most influential papers and authors, countries and institutions involved, as well as emerging themes that should be taken into account in future research.…”

“…Taking into account the great challenges that the food sector is currently facing and the great opportunities for new projects and companies, it is interesting to know and analyse the scientific production on both structures. Although numerous articles relate the food sector to entrepreneurship (Tajvidi and Tajvidi, 2021;Lindbergh and Schwartz, 2021), no bibliometric articles that analyse the scientific production that relates both terms have been found in the literature. In the field of entrepreneurship, this type of study has been carried out for several years; recently, we found one on international entrepreneurship (IE) (Baier-Fuentes et al, 2019), another on social entrepreneurship (Dionisio, 2019) or even on entrepreneurship education (EE) (Aparicio et al, 2019).…”

Community and Cultural Entrepreneurship and Value Co-Creation in the Local Food Marketscape

“…Consistent with the local food movement agenda, entrepreneurial approaches to the re-localization of food production and consumption are widely considered to be community development mechanisms [8,[17][18][19]. Researchers have associated a range of pro-community impacts with local food entrepreneurship that converge to foster economically, environmentally, and socially just, vibrant, and sustainable communities [1,10,20].…”