Resisting the market logic: surrogate mother experiences of embodied service provision

Purpose Focusing on the commercial surrogacy market in India, this paper aims to examine the symbolic processes of contestation between conflicting institutional logics reflected in surrogate mothers’ lived experiences. Design/methodology/approach The authors phenomenological ethnography that involved collecting data from multiple sources such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, follow-up interviews, personal interactions and field notes. Data analysis has been conducted using the standard procedures of thematic analysis. Findings The interpretation of surrogate mother experiences shows that service workers not only combat both the market logic and the stigmatizing logic through the integrative construction of the defensive logic but also weave the premises of these three logics to pursue several strategies of logic reconciliation. Originality/value This research sheds light onto the institutional turn in service research through extending a scholarly understanding of the mechanisms of reconciliation between conflicting institutional logics in service settings. It provides a detailed account of processes of the construction and development of institutional logics in the context of morally contentious service milieus, which is important because it enables service managers and public policymakers to gain relevant insights into institutional causes of change in service markets.