2009/12/01 by Shon R. Hiatt, Wesley D. Sine, Wesley Sine +1 · 457 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Action (physics) #American History and Culture #Business #Consumption (sociology) #Law #Legislation #Management and Organizational Studies #Marketing #Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering #Political science #Public relations #Social science #Sociology #Variety (cybernetics)
paper · doi:10.2189/asqu.2009.54.4.635
published in Administrative Science Quarterly 54(4), 635-667 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/05
In this paper, we examine the dual role that social movement organizations can play in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations. Empirically, we investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the leading organizational representative of the American temperance movement, on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers. By delegitimating alcohol consumption, altering attitudes and beliefs about drinking, and promoting temperance legislation, the WCTU contributed to brewery failures. These social changes, in turn, created opportunities for entrepreneurs to found organizations producing new kinds of beverages by creating demand for alternative beverages, providing rationales for entrepreneurial action, and increasing the availability of necessary resources.