Socioeconomic Status of Customers and Institutionalization: A Qualitative Study on Jewellery Sector

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explain how organizations’ institutional forms differentiates to serve their customers who have different socioeconomic status. Customer demands may force organizations to adopt different activities even if they operate in the same industry. Firms may encounter such force in an industry that involves high competition and wide product/customer range. In this respect, structured interviews have been conducted with forty-nine top managers who are working in various jewelry firms. Research pattern of this study is culture analysis. Research data has been analyzed by categorical analysis which is a sub-class of the content analysis. Findings indicate that people who belong to low socio economic status classes and high socio economic status classes have different expectations from organizations and they hold different cognitive ideals. The results show that implied differentiation shapes the institutional environment and by this way it determines which organizational structures and practices are going to be institutionalized in the field.