Meating Expectations: Category Legitimation and Transmutation

Eunice Y. Rhee (), Jade Y. Lo () and Rodolphe Durand ()
Additional contact information
Eunice Y. Rhee: Department of Management, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington 98122
Jade Y. Lo: Department of Management, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Rodolphe Durand: Strategy and Business Policy Department, HEC Paris, 78350 Paris, France

Organization Science, 2025, vol. 36, issue 5, 1980-2007

Abstract: This study investigates how market actors legitimize new categories that challenge the foundational understandings of established ones while simultaneously seeking to compete in the same market space. We analyze the development of the U.S. plant-based meat category from 2012 to 2019, focusing on how plant-based meat producers positioned their products as legitimate competitors within the meat category despite their nonanimal origins. We identify three key legitimation strategies used by entrepreneurs: reconfiguring the category basis by reframing the core attributes of meat from animal origin to shared biochemical components; creating experiential congruence by replicating the sensory qualities and social practices associated with traditional meat; and instilling value superiority by emphasizing health, environmental, and ethical benefits along with forward-thinking innovation. Our observations also lead us to theorize what we term category transmutation —a construct for understanding how the successful legitimation of a new category might reshape the meaning and boundaries of an existing one. We envision category transmutation as a process through which an existing category evolves to incorporate both traditional and new subcategories, thereby vertically modifying the category structure. This study advances our understanding of category dynamics and extends the role of cultural entrepreneurship beyond gaining legitimacy to reshaping category systems and market structures, with the potential to drive positive societal changes.

Keywords: legitimation; category dynamics; category transmutation; cultural entrepreneurship; relational nature of categories; market moralization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.17957 (application/pdf)

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:inm:ororsc:v:36:y:2025:i:5:p:1980-2007

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().