From the margins to the mainstream: Entrepreneurial theorization and the spread of a new collective identity within a mature organizational field

We study the effects of entrepreneurial theorization on the spread of a new collective identity within a mature organizational field. Mature fields are characterized by dominant logics, entrenched practices, and stable patterns of interaction, resulting in isomorphism and inertia. Yet, mature fields do change, often as a result of entrepreneurial activity. Whereas prior work has focused on the creation of "oppositional" niches within mature fields, we focus on an identity movement that transformed the core of a field. We do this within the context of the Canadian wine field, a field that remained stable from the end of Prohibition through the 1970s. For decades, large incumbents projected a European identity for their wines and gave these wines "faux" European names. In contrast, pioneering entrepreneurs projected a distinctly Canadian identity for their wines, an identity that was ultimately adopted by incumbents. In this way, domestic wine in Canada became tied to place rather than divorced from it. We show how entrepreneurial theorization of the "Canadian wine" identity by small producers and identity pioneers led to the spread of this identity to center of the field, and how the effects of theorization depended on the authenticity of these theorizers. We also suggest that an identity movement that engages incumbents rather than seeks to create an oppositional category is more likely to reach the center of a mature field.