C’est la ‘Fête du slip’! When a Weak Field Mandate Event Tries to Change an Organizational Field

Émilie Ruiz; Rémy Guichardaz; Kim-Marlène Le

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2023.6722

Émilie Ruiz Institut de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (Irege), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Annecy-le-Vieux, France https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0563-6115
Rémy Guichardaz Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
Kim-Marlène Le Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2023.6722

Keywords: Field-configuring events, FCE, Pornography, Organizational field, Festival

Abstract

The literature on field-configuring events draws a contrast between ‘strong field mandate’ events, which play a dominant role in a field, and the ‘weak field mandate’ events held at the periphery. Irrespective of their type, three levers have been identified that enable field-configuring events to configure the field in which they occur: legitimacy, conformity to the rules and norms in force in the field, and power. Since, by their nature, weak field events do not have access to these levers, an essential question arises concerning how weak field mandate events can attempt to modify an organizational field. The study of ‘La Fête du slip’, an alternative pornography festival, identifies three actions that are undertaken in an effort to access these levers: (1) contributing to the emergence and structuring of the alternative pornography subfield, (2) driving communities (of practice, as well as epistemic), and (3) opening up to alternative events within the field as well as to other related and institutional fields outside the field. This work contributes to the literature by discussing actions that allow weak field events to access configurative levers in an attempt to change an organizational field.

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Author Biographies

Émilie Ruiz, Institut de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (Irege), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Annecy-le-Vieux, France

Émilie Ruiz is an associate professor in innovation management at the university of Savoie Mont Blanc (France) and a member of the IREGE laboratory. She is also an associate fellow at University of Strasbourg, Bureau de l’économie théorique et appliquée (BETA – CNRS). Her research, published in various journals such as R&D Management, Technovation or the European Management Journal focuses on open innovation, particularly innovation involving innovation communities, organizational creativity, as well as cultural and creative industries.

Rémy Guichardaz, Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Rémy Guichardaz is an associate professor at University of Strasbourg (France) and a member of the Bureau de l’économie théorique et appliquée (BETA – CNRS). His research focuses on intellectual property and innovation from various methodological perspectives, including the history of economic thought, experimental economics and innovation management, particularly in the music industry.

Kim-Marlène Le, Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Kim-Marlene Le is an associate fellow of the Bureau d’économie théorique et appliquée (BETA) of the University of Strasbourg, France. Her field of expertise is the economics of the cultural and creative industries, particularly in the audiovisual sector and the adult industry. Among her research interests, the impact of copyright protection on cultural production, diffusion and commerce, is at the top of her list.

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