TY - JOUR
T1 - Emergence in emergency
T2 - how actors adapt to service ecosystem disruption
AU - Thompson-Whiteside, Helen
AU - Fletcher-Brown, Judith
AU - Middleton, Karen
AU - Turnbull, Sarah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/7/1
Y1 - 2023/7/1
N2 - Marketing scholars are applying the concept of emergence to understand an increasingly unstable world. While what emerges is of interest, the present study enriches conceptualisations of how emergence unfolds through a netnographic study of an online network formed to address the deficiencies of service ecosystems disrupted by Covid-19. We identify how a new network between actors with no prior ties to each other is formed at speed by individuals to integrate unregulated resources, and observe the early emergence of a proto-institution in the form of new practices as actors move quickly to stabilise this network. Initial interactions are prompted by individual vulnerability but sustained by the emergence of a shared conception of vulnerability among surprisingly agentic actors. While these findings stem from a single case of disruption, they suggest that further research which deepens understanding of emergent phenomena in conditions of volatility and uncertainty would be of great value.
AB - Marketing scholars are applying the concept of emergence to understand an increasingly unstable world. While what emerges is of interest, the present study enriches conceptualisations of how emergence unfolds through a netnographic study of an online network formed to address the deficiencies of service ecosystems disrupted by Covid-19. We identify how a new network between actors with no prior ties to each other is formed at speed by individuals to integrate unregulated resources, and observe the early emergence of a proto-institution in the form of new practices as actors move quickly to stabilise this network. Initial interactions are prompted by individual vulnerability but sustained by the emergence of a shared conception of vulnerability among surprisingly agentic actors. While these findings stem from a single case of disruption, they suggest that further research which deepens understanding of emergent phenomena in conditions of volatility and uncertainty would be of great value.
KW - Emergence
KW - Proto-institution
KW - Resource integration
KW - Vulnerability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150934832&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113800
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113800
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85150934832
SN - 0148-2963
VL - 162
JO - Journal of Business Research
JF - Journal of Business Research
M1 - 113800
ER -