High-status producers have the support to radically shift their artists’ image, while mid-status producers follow trends

In markets where producers drive the creative process, high-status producers can opt for more radical changes for their artists’ image, whereas middle-status producers are likely to shift their artists’ image to follow popular categories. The new research, published in Strategic Management Journal, uses Korean pop music — or K-pop — to demonstrate how the status of entertainment agencies affects how idol groups shift categories, an effect that is also limited by the artists’ gender.

The research — from Heeyon Kim of Cornell University, Yoonjeoung Heo of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, and Chi-Nien Chung of Hong Kong Polytechnic University — expanded on prior studies that explored the limitations of category shifting for artists. Instead, the team considered how, when social actors shift categories over time, they develop multifaceted identities, which can offer substantial advantages to the artist.

The authors began by proposing three ways in which an actor's status influences category shifting. First, they suggest that middle-status actors are most motivated to follow market trends to gain more attention from the broad audience. Second, they hypothesized that high-status actors are under more pressure to create distinct identities in the short run, but more likely to take risks and shift in the long run to pursue the goal of creating multifaceted identities. Lastly, knowing that status is embedded in larger societal and institutional norms such as gender roles, the team considered limits to status-based identity shifts.

To test their theories, the research team looked at the K-pop industry, where producers exert significant control over their artists and are known to manufacture the idol groups’ concept categories. The team could also explore the impact of gender-based societal norms on identity shifts, as male and female K-pop idol groups are often classified into separate subcategories and are managed by agencies using different strategies.

The researchers determined a list of possible K-pop concepts, and stratified agencies into high, middle or low status based on the number of awards they received. They explored a sample of 680 songs by 122 idol groups from 76 agencies of varying statuses between 2004 and 2016. They measured concept category shifts of the groups by coding the concepts displayed in music videos, and matched the groups to the agencies. The results of the study supported all three of the team’s hypotheses: Idol groups from middle-status producers or agencies are most likely to follow market-dominant concept trends. Groups from high-status agencies pursue less frequent shifts in the short term — instead focusing on establishing distinct identities — but they tend to pursue the most radical shifts when they do change concepts.

“The fans of high-status agencies’ groups support their idols no matter what,” Kim says. “The high-status agencies then are able to experiment to figure out what will get a broader audience’s support. We also find that middle-status agencies’ idol groups tend to follow the dominant trend because they want to be at the center of attention, they want to be in that consideration set. They're a follower, and the high-status agencies tend to be the trendsetter with their experimentation.”

Lastly, the research team found these effects to be true most frequently with male idol groups, suggesting agency status is limited for changing the concepts for female groups, who are more constrained by societal gender expectations.

“There is a set image for female groups that, regardless of the agency’s status, they have to follow the broader societal norm,” Kim says.

The study suggests that high-status producers, agencies, or creatives have the support of fans, resources, and collaborators to experiment with identity more, compared with lower statuses. This higher status puts producers and artists in a position to create a multifaceted identity — an ultimate goal for many in the creative industry. For managers, understanding whether they’re high or middle status can determine whether to spend time following trends to solidify their fandom, or whether they have loyalty to experiment without major consequence.

To read the full context of the study and its methods, access the full paper available in the Strategic Management Journal.

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