Abstract
This chapter draws an analytical distinction between altercentric and egocentric uncertainty. Altercentric uncertainty refers to the uncertainty that buyers face about the product quality of a focal producer (ego). Egocentric uncertainty refers to the uncertainty that the producer itself faces about the resource allocation decisions that will result in a product that is regarded as high quality by buyers. This chapter then argues that the value that a firm derives from its own status is positively related to altercentric uncertainty and negatively related to egocentric uncertainty. That is, status is valuable when buyers can use it as a signal of quality, but status is not valuable when a producer does not know how to’ spend’ its status to produce quality. As a consequence, high status producers should seek out markets or market segments where egocentric uncertainty is low. This argument and hypothesis are tested in an examination of the venture capital markets.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Podolny, J.M., Castellucci, F. (1999). Choosing Ties from the Inside of a Prism: Egocentric Uncertainty and Status in Venture Capital Markets. In: Leenders, R.T.A.J., Gabbay, S.M. (eds) Corporate Social Capital and Liability. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5027-3_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5027-3_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7284-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5027-3
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