Doctoral Dissertation Research: Opportunities in a New Retail Industry

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines how individual characteristics affect opportunities in a new retail industry. This research investigates the understudied process of how a positive change in status affects the culture and stratification of a previously deprecated industry. Results will provide insight into how the meaning of previously deprecated labor changes as its status is raised, and how work which was previously coded as appropriate for one category of people becomes seen as suitable for a different category to perform. Findings will advance understanding of workplaces and organizations and will inform the improvement of representativeness in new industries. Data will be collected via field research in three sites, interviews, and content analysis of media and social media. The research questions to be addressed concern 1) demographic marketing (as potential entrepreneurs, employees, and consumers), 2) pathways into the industry, 3) motivations to participate in the industry, and 4) demographic associations with interactions and experiences in the industry. Findings will contribute to debates about industry status, demographic characteristics, and differences in work opportunities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.