Normative uncertainty and middle-status innovation in the US daily newspaper industry

Abstract

This article focuses on normatively uncertain innovations and asks when and how organizational status affects the adoption and implementation of these innovations. I argue that middle-status organizations perceive normative uncertainty more as an opportunity for gain, whereas high- and low-status organizations perceive it more as a threat of loss and competition. Consequently, middle-status organizations are likely to be the first to adopt normatively uncertain innovations and to implement them in a way that emphasizes normative uncertainty. Event history and negative binomial regression analyses of the US newspaper industry from 1993 to 2007, the period after the emergence of digital media that was normatively uncertain, support my theoretical arguments. Middle-status newspapers launched their websites faster than other newspapers did. In addition, they emphasized interactivity on the web, which could potentially change the identity of newspapers from sole news producers to facilitators.