Twentieth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Hirschman’s book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (1970) explored the ways in which people interact with businesses and organizations, and influenced studies in a number of fields, including sociology. While Hirschman’s claims are still valid half a century later, they do not account for the relatively new phenomenon whereby non-customers set requirements before they even engage in a transaction. This strategy, which I call raider, attempts to transform business into a form of social and political activism, beyond the rules of supply and demand. I use data from Instagram and Facebook pages of five companies that produce bras to exemplify raider and the ways in which it differs from voice and market demand. The data is used to substantiate my claim that an expansion of Hirschman’s theory is due, and to outline future avenues of research.