Organizational Scent

Abstract

Scent permeates all organizations and multiple dimensions of organizational life—yet it has been largely neglected in organization studies. This is unfortunate as scent is both a constitutive component of social reality and a distinct semiotic mode of constructing and conveying cultural meaning. It impacts, among many other things, the identity and image of organizations as well as institutionalized practices on the individual, organizational and field level. In order to firmly establish scent on our research agenda, this article introduces three novel concepts and, subsequently, highlights fertile areas for future research: institutional scent repertoire, organizational scent identity and scent literacy.