From Evangelical Roots to Capitalist Returns: Market Formation from Community Beginnings

This research tests a theory of consumption-driven market emergence (CDME): a process wherein embedded entrepreneurs, multiple and dispersed actors from a particular habitus, innovate products outside of mainstream market logics leading to the distributed development of communities of practice around the innovations. A key feature of CDME is the introduction of a market catalyst, an actor that provides critical elements of infrastructure that, in turn, allows the emergence of a fully functioning, efficient and legitimized market. In this article we examine how the organic foods market emerged from a widespread collection of ideologically driven farmers and consumers into a high-growth and profitable commercial market. We test a model of CDME with secondary data reflecting the dynamics of the organic farming industry. Results from the fixed effects panel data estimation show strong support for the model.