Sociocognitive dynamics in a product market

In this article, the authors explore the origins and evolution of product m arkets from a sociocognitive perspective. Product markets are defined as so cially constructed knowledge structures (i.e., product conceptual systems) that are shared among producers and consumers-sharing that enables consumer s and producers to interact in the market. The fundamental thesis is that p roduct markets are neither imposed nor orchestrated by producers or consume rs but evolve from producer-consumer interaction feedback effects. Starting as unstable, incomplete, and disjointed conceptual systems held by market actors-which is revealed by the cacophony of uses, claims, and product stan dards that characterize emerging product markets-product markets become coh erent as a result of consumers and producers making sense of each other's b ehaviors. The authors further argue that the sensemaking process is reveale d in the stories that consumers and producers tell each other in published media, such as industry newspapers and consumer magazines, which the author s use as data sources. Specific hypotheses pertaining to the use of product category labels in published sources and the acceptability of different pr oduct category members throughout the development process are tested for th e minivan market between 1982 and 1988. The findings suggest that category stabilization causes significant differences between consumers and producer s in how they use product category labels for emerging and preexisting cate gories. The findings also show that, as stabilization occurs around a categ ory prototype, the acceptability of particular models changes without any p hysical changes to the models.