From niche to norm: understanding strategic stakeholder engagement in the legitimation of new product categories
Subhadeep DattaPurpose
This study explores the strategic role of stakeholders in legitimizing new product categories, using the craft beer market in France as a case study. This study aims to examine the stakeholder engagement mechanisms, strategically initiated by producers, sellers and consumers within their respective domains, through which cognitive, moral and pragmatic legitimacies are built, thereby transforming craft beer from a niche product to a recognized market category.
Design/methodology/approach
An ethnographic research design was used, involving participant observations and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the Parisian craft beer market. Data were analyzed using thematic coding to identify patterns of stakeholder engagement and their contributions to the category’s legitimacy.
Findings
The findings reveal that producers establish authenticity by highlighting the legacy of the beer crafting process as opposed to commercial manufacturing and high-quality, unique, localized ingredients from identified origins, while sellers play a critical role in educating consumers and differentiating the category. Consumers, particularly innovators and early adopters, validate and promote the category within their networks to establish its legitimacy in the broader market.
Practical implications
The study offers actionable strategies for managers and entrepreneurs, emphasizing the need to actively engage with stakeholders to build and communicate a compelling narrative around new product categories.
Social implications
The findings suggest that promoting sustainable and ethical practices in product categories can enhance moral legitimacy, aligning business strategies with broader societal values.
Originality/value
This study builds on Carroll and Swaminathan’s (2000) foundational work by examining how distinct strategic actions by producers, sellers and consumers, and not producer-led narratives alone, generate cognitive, moral and pragmatic legitimacies in a culturally distinct context, revealing interactional mechanisms and institutional strategies absent in the original microbrewery-focused analysis.