Cultivating taste: Constructing the importance of product aesthetics in technological industries

In this theory development case study, I argue that firms address the challenges of competition in standardized technological environments by engaging in technological and well as non-technological innovations, those based on aesthetic design components that have a symbolic effect rather than an instrumental purpose. More specifically, this study examines the emergence of a competitive logic centered on using aesthetic product elements to manipulate the consumption of technological goods. I study this emergence in the context of a standardized and commoditized high-technology industry-the US personal computer industry. I conduct a computer-aided text analysis of product reviews as well as an analysis of pictures of personal computers during a period of incremental technological innovation dominated by cost-driven competition, 1992-2003. Based on the analyses, I suggest that firms construct their constituents' taste for products with unique aesthetic features to mitigate the competitive difficulties of their environments.