Sub-theme 30: Crafting Values: How Craft Can Make Life a Little Better
Call for Papers
While craft industries are frequently used as interesting research sites, we have yet to fully appreciate how the notion
of craft can help us understand relevant alternative approaches to organizing work and production in modern society. Indeed,
craft movements that revive traditional making skills in manufacturing do not merely provide a lucrative market niche, but
can elicit field-wide transformation by improving social, environmental, and economic conditions. The relevance of the concept
extends beyond these often-nostalgic imaginaries of alternative modes of production and could be applied to understand dynamics
in any line of work that is subject to mechanical rationalization (Kroezen et al., 2021).
In this sub-theme,
we encourage scholars to extend recent research on the role of craft in the pursuit of social and other non-market goals in
the 21st century (e.g., Bell et al., 2018; Sasaki, Ravasi, & Micelotta, 2019; Woolley, Pozner, & DeSoucey,
2021). How does craft make life little better by, for instance, making work more meaningful, facilitating sustainable development
goals, or maintaining community identity?
The recent resurgence of research on traditional craft sectors
(e.g., Cattani et al., 2013; Mathias et al., 2018; Weber et al., 2008), mirrors a growing concern with the role of skillful
making and social re-enchantment (Suddaby et al., 2017) in a world of accelerating rationalization, industrialization, and
grand challenges. It appears that craft provides an alternative way of organizing work and production that may make life a
little better. A recent review (Kroezen et al., 2021) organizes the now extensive literature on craft and defines it as an
approach to work that prioritizes human engagement over machine control. When organized as a craft, work and production rely
uniquely human skills that involve mastery of techniques and embodied expertise, as well as humanizing attitudes
that include dedication, communality and explorative learning. Yet, perhaps the most crucial implication of this growing line
of work is that craft facilitates the pursuit of particular social or aesthetic purposes that contrast sharply with the taken-for-granted
drive towards growth and efficiency that has come to characterize much of contemporary organizational society.
To advance this growing perspective and fully appreciate the role of craft in modern society, we encourage scholars to interrogate
precisely what it is that craft does more extensively. In other words, this sub-theme aims to move beyond the traditionally
narrow views of craft as related to primitive, nostalgic and niche forms of manufacturing to focus instead on its broader
impact: how can craft help to make the world a better place?
Organizational scholars
are well-equipped to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of craft in society. It is clear that craft already
plays an important, if complicated, role in contemporary society: sometimes producing, sometimes impeding innovation or impeding
it (Hasse & Nyfeler, 2021); bringing back in “old” forms and tasks of employment, or combining them with and generating
new employment opportunities; and increasing connectedness and satisfaction from work (Adamson, 2018, LaMore et al., 2013;
Ocejo, 2017). Not only can craft make work more humane and meaningful – perceptually if not always of actually –, we propose
that it can also contribute to the amelioration of social, economic, and environmental ills by generating sustainable approaches
to both production and organization.
Recent work on bean-to-bar chocolate (Woolley, Pozner, & DeSoucey,
2021), for example, shows how a craft approach to work and production can facilitate the achievement of goals like eliminating
the unpalatable externalities of modern rationalized production such as exploitative labor, structural poverty and environmental
degradation. It was only through deep human engagement with the chocolate supply chain that craft entrepreneurs were able
to expose the misalignment between conventional forms of organizing and desire to work towards resolving social ills. This
ultimately generated alternative ventures and organizational structures with the potential to fundamentally transform livelihoods
across the supply chains.
Understood in this light, craft appears fundamentally associated with the promotion
of both aesthetic and social goals, so that social values are fundamentally embodied in any craft object that is made or enjoyed.
In this way, craft appears to hold promise for the resolution of some of the grand challenges faced by modern
society. The goal of this sub-theme is to improve our theoretical understanding of craft through dedicated research and cross-fertilization
with a variety of literatures to ultimately advance a conversation on the possible positive impact of craft on the modern
world. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
How does craft contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals or triple bottom line objectives? How do craft makers balance aesthetic and social goals with financial ones?
What is the value of craft in developed (craft as art and luxury) and developing countries (craft work as an engine of economic growth and sustainability)?
How can craft approaches to work and production promote sustainability, inclusion, and ethics?
How do the values associated with craft create meaning in the broader world?
How do craft approaches to work and production reconfigure conventional roles (e.g., producer vs. consumer) to elicit positive social value?
How does craft entrepreneurship differ from other forms of entrepreneurship?
How might craft challenge or transform current forms of capitalism and neo-liberal thinking?
How has craft revived or reinvented industries of local cultural importance that had been previously (nearly) wiped out?
How do craft approaches to work and production generate unique forms of innovation?
What is the role of the local community and wider institutions in the sustainability of craft work?
How are cultural heritage and legacy related to the realization of contemporary social values in craft work?
We invite theoretical and empirical papers
using qualitative or quantitative research methods that address these and related topics.
References
- Adamson, G. (2018): The Invention of Craft. London, New York: Bloomsbury.
- Bell, E., Toraldo, M.L., Taylor, S., & Mangia, G. (2018): “Introduction: understanding contemporary craft work.” In: E. Bell, G. Mangia, S. Taylor, M.L. Toraldo (eds.): The Organization of Craft Work. New York: Routledge, 1–19.
- Cattani, G., Dunbar, R.L., & Shapira, Z. (2013): “Value creation and knowledge loss: The case of Cremonese stringed instruments.” Organization Science, 24 (3), 813–830.
- Hasse, R. & Nyfeler, J. (2021): “Making creativity, not innovation. Lessons from the field of fashion.” Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 75, 249–266.
- Kroezen, J., Ravasi, D., Sasaki, I., Żebrowska, M., & Suddaby, R. (2021): “Configurations of Craft: Alternative Models for Organizing Work.” Academy of Management Annals, 15 (2), 502–536.
- LaMore, R., Root-Bernstein, R., Root-Bernstein, M., Schweitzer, J.H., Lawton, J.L., Roraback, E., & Fernandez, L. (2013): “Arts and crafts: Critical to economic innovation.” Economic Development Quarterly, 27 (3), 221–229.
- Mathias, B.D., Huyghe, A., Frid, C.J., & Galloway, T.L. (2018): “An identity perspective on coopetition in the craft beer industry.” Strategic Management Journal, 39 (12), 3086–3115.
- Ocejo, R.E. (2017): Masters of Craft. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Sasaki, I., Ravasi, D., & Micelotta, E. (2019): “Family firms as institutions: Cultural reproduction and status maintenance among multi-centenary shinise in Kyoto.” Organization Studies, 40 (6), 793–831.
- Suddaby, R., Ganzin, M., & Minkus, A. (2017): “Craft, magic and the re-enchantment of the world.” European Management Journal, 35 (3), 285–296.
- Weber, K., Heinze, K.L., & DeSoucey, M. (2008): “Forage for thought: Mobilizing codes in the movement for grass-fed meat and dairy products.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 53 (3), 529–567.
- Woolley, J.L., Pozner, J.,E., & DeSoucey, M. (2021): “Raising the Bar: Values-Driven Niche Creation in US Bean-to-Bar Chocolate.” Strategy Science, 7 (1), 1–70.