Research seminar by Andrew Nelson

Abstract: Scholars have identified numerous framing strategies that organizations use to shape audience understandings of a new innovation. Yet, less is known about how organizations may introduce and frame taboo innovations that people feel compelled to avoid discussing. To examine this, we conducted a qualitative study of human composting, a deathcare practice that facilitates the decomposition of human remains. We find that human composting organizations build growing acceptance for taboo technologies by shifting their emotional and positional rhetoric – moving from treating the technology as an ordinary product launch, to countering the taboo content, to loosening control to bring in the audience. We extend the existing framing literature by illustrating how organizations may overcome the tendency for audiences to avoid taboo innovations by using rhetorics that manage positioning the product and shaping emotions, thereby encouraging audience engagement. We also build on extant literature by highlighting how organizations may not only mitigate negative emotions but also foster positive emotions to facilitate growing acceptance of the taboo innovation. Finally, we compare and contrast taboo and stigma, including the mechanisms used to manage each.

 

Co-Authors:  Liz Hood (University of Southern California), Tuo Liu (Boston College), and Bess Rouse (Boston College)

 

 

About Andrew Nelson

 

Andrew Nelson is the Randall C. Papé Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Professor of Management at the University of Oregon. He received his PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, where he subsequently served as a Lecturer. He also holds an MSc from Oxford University and a dual BA from Stanford. Andrew's research explores the development, commercialization and social implications of new technologies. His ongoing research projects focus on fields ranging from electronic music to quantum computing, often taking a historical perspective. Among other outlets, his work appears in the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Research Policy, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategy Science, and in his books, The Sound of Innovation: Stanford and the Computer Music Revolution (MIT Press, 2015) and Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise (McGraw-Hill, 2025). Andrew also serves as Deputy Editor at Organization Science. He is a prior Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) and serves on the editorial boards of AMJ and the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Beyond the academy, Andrew also serves as a Venture Partner at Oregon Venture Fund, and on several boards and advisory boards.