The structure of quality in market contexts

This dissertation develops a framework for understanding the structure of schemas and relates this framework to constraints on the behavior of market actors. Cognitive psychologists have demonstrated that the structure of schemas impacts on judgment processes at the individual level. In this dissertation, I elaborate a conception of schema structure at the collective level and demonstrate that differences in the structural properties of schemas shape evaluative processes in the market. I propose four idealized types of structural configurations. I then explore the implications of different structural configurations for the behavior of market actors by focusing, in particular, on the schemas used to interpret and evaluate the quality of product offerings. In my dissertation, I demonstrate that the structural properties of quality-based schemas affect the sorting of producers into product segments. I study this proposition using data from the Hollywood feature film industry. Data for U.S.-produced feature films released from 1992 to 2001 has been gathered through the Internet Movie Database. Critical reviews for these films have been gathered through Lexis-Nexis, and semantic analysis of these reviews has been used to uncover the structure of schemas for quality for different film genres.