Publication:
Atypicality: Toward an Integrative Framework in Organizational and Market Settings

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCutolo, Donato
dc.contributor.authorFerriani, Simone
dc.contributor.funderItalian Ministry of Education, University and Research
dc.contributor.rorhttps://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned2025-06-25T10:05:27Z
dc.date.available2025-06-25T10:05:27Z
dc.date.issued2023-11-14
dc.description.abstractResearch in management and organizational studies has emphasized the importance and the double-edged nature of (a)typicality. Organizational objects that are atypical within a context - in terms of features, characteristics, or behaviors- tend to generate skepticism and encourage rejection by eliciting confusion among relevant audiences, including investors, employees, customers, and partners. However, atypicality is also often cited as a vital source of competitive advantage, as atypical actors and products can attract significant attention, innovate, and even promote structural change in a field. While research aimed at reconciling this inconsistency has accumulated rapidly, this literature has remained fragmentary and scattered across several disciplines, resulting in mixed views, conceptualizations, and perspectives. In this article, we systematically reviewed 129 papers to advance a conceptual model that helps to establish a comprehensive organizational perspective on atypicality. We a) identify three perspectives on atypicality: cognitive, normative, and innovative, b) develop an integrative framework that elaborates on the sources, consequences, and boundary conditions of atypicality, and c) highlight avenues for future studies on this topic. We hope that this review on atypicality will encourage and inform future scholarship in this fascinating domain and elucidate novel opportunities for unleashing the generative potential of this important construct.
dc.description.fundingtypeThe authors are thankful to Matthew Cronin and Bill McEvily for thorough guidance and valuable comments throughout the review process. We are also grateful to David Stark, David Seidl, Giada DiStefano, and Marco Minervini, as well as participants in the Organizational Theory Winter workshop and KTO Paper Development Workshop at SKEMA Business School, and in the entrepreneurship and innovation seminar series at Bayes Business School, for their feedback on previous versions of this paper. We gratefully acknowledge financial assistance from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research through the PRIN funding scheme (grant no. 2022MCWT4Y) and the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (grant no. 101103930) financed by the Horizon Europe program. All errors remain the authors’ responsibility.
dc.description.peerreviewedyes
dc.description.statusPublished
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationCutolo, D., & Ferriani, S. (2024). Atypicality: Toward an integrative framework in organizational and market settings. Academy of Management Annals, 18(1), 157-209. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2022.0005.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2022.0005
dc.identifier.issn1941-6520
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3817
dc.issue.number1
dc.journal.titleAcademy of Management Annals
dc.language.isoen
dc.page.final209
dc.page.initial157
dc.page.total57
dc.publisherAcademy of Management
dc.relation.departmentEntrepreneurship
dc.relation.entityIE University
dc.relation.projectID2022MCWT4Y
dc.relation.schoolIE Business School
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en
dc.titleAtypicality: Toward an Integrative Framework in Organizational and Market Settings
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.version.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
dc.volume.number18
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication4ba355bd-1975-485d-80ed-a6912ddd686a
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery4ba355bd-1975-485d-80ed-a6912ddd686a
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Atypicality Toward an Integrative Framework in Organizational and Market Settings.pdf
Size:
858.08 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.83 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed to upon submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Research Articles