Conflicting coexistence of legitimation and delegitimation logics in a revived market: The case of a traditional clothing market

Abstract Research on market shaping highlights the capacity of actors to influence a market by legitimating/delegitimating a consumption practice. This literature emphasizes the institutional work of actors in creating or transforming a market. However, little attention has been paid to the consequences for market shaping when some institutional actors endeavor to disrupt a market while others seek to maintain it. Drawing on a qualitative study of the Tunisian Sefsari clothing market, we show that actors in the dominated market logic can revive the market by working institutionally in response to institutional forces disrupting the Sefsari market. The market studied is shaped by a relationship between two opposing institutional logics that translates into an institutional complexity conveying identity tensions. By exploring market shaping as an outcome of dialogical legitimation/delegitimation work by institutional actors, our findings contribute to existing theorizations of market shaping and have a number of managerial implications.