A relational power perspective on the positional shift of peripheral players in an organisational field: The case of Mediapart in the French press field

Karim Ben-Slimane, Amira Laifi and Olivier Germain

Journal of Business Research, 2024, vol. 173, issue C

Abstract: Prior research in field theory has acknowledged the importance of power to the stability of field structure and to the reproduction of the benefits and advantages that powerful incumbent organizations have over powerless peripheral players. In this paper, we challenge such determinism by embracing a relational view of power in the field. We argue that when incumbents' use of power is perceived as hegemonic and in contradiction with field values and norms by peripheral players, the latter may act to contest such hegemonic power, leading them to achieve a positional shift. We conducted a qualitative study of the newspaper Mediapart in the French press field who succeeded in getting to the centre of the field by contesting the hegemony of incumbents. Our findings show three main strategies that allow peripheral players to achieve a positional shift in the field: reclaiming ownership, recentring authenticity and reaffirming legitimacy.

Keywords: Field theory; Peripheral players; Incumbents; Press; Power; Hegemony (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323008251
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:173:y:2024:i:c:s0148296323008251

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114466

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().