The “Voice of Industry”: Why management researchers should pay more attention to trade associations
呼吁管理研究者重视行业协会，指出其在影响政策、行业自律和信息传播中的关键作用，并讨论制度理论、集体身份和非市场战略三个领域如何因忽视行业协会而存在局限。
Trade associations work to influence regulation, government policy, and public opinion on behalf of the collective needs and objectives of their members. They also serve as agents for disseminating and exchanging information within industries, and often act as informal regulators by setting voluntary standards of behavior for industry members. Yet, despite the obvious importance of trade associations for firms, industries, and societies, management and organization researchers have devoted surprisingly little attention to understanding them. In this essay, we argue that researchers must develop a deeper understanding of their purpose, sources of influence, and impact on companies, industries, and society. We go on to discuss three examples of areas of management research—institutional theory, collective identity, and nonmarket strategy—where we believe trade associations are of particular relevance and where existing theoretical perspectives remain limited without an explicit consideration of these important organizations.