Looking into the past and forward: Antecedents, processes, and consequences of organizational category formation

Organizational category research has received increasing attention in the field of management and organization for over 30 years. Although there are extant literature reviews concerning the category research, none of them provides a comprehensive review of organizational category formation in management and organization studies. To address this gap, the study systematically synthesizes and evaluates 345 papers on the organizational category formation from 1989 to 2022 to present state-of-the-art literature and guide future research. First, we identify three stages of the development of organizational category formation literature, and then outline a holistic picture of antecedent, process, and the outcome of organizational category formation in which the underlying research has been investigated to construct a theoretical framework. Finally, the findings also provide concrete guidance for future research endeavors in this area.