Does hype create irreversibilities? Affective circulation and market investments in digital health

Geiger, Susi and Gross, Nicole (2017) Does hype create irreversibilities? Affective circulation and market investments in digital health. Marketing Theory, 17 (4). pp. 435-454. ISSN 1741-301X

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Abstract

This article draws from two conceptual lenses – the sociology of expectations and market studies – to investigate the relationship between technology hype and market investments: which promises and expectations surround hype and how they come together to shape actors’ investments in an emerging market. We address this question through analysing a contemporary hype in a technology marketing context: digital healthcare. Our aim is to trace how market actors create, support and evaluate a market hype; how hype and market investments are related; and whether hype contributes to irreversibilities in shaping emerging market forms and categories. Our study indicates that hypes contribute tangibly to producing the market, not least by channelling financial, symbolic and material market investments. Furthermore, by highlighting how socio-economic, technological and policy promises become affectively loaded through circulation, we add a novel dimension to existing insights into the socio-cognitive construction of markets. We caution technology marketers, policymakers and investors against blindly following technology hype, especially when it encourages companies to engage in market investment that is unhinged from broader systems and societal, ethical or economic concerns.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > Healthcare Industry H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > Marketing
Divisions:	School of Business > Staff Research and Publications
Depositing User:	Caoimhe Ní Mhaicín
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2019 11:07
Last Modified:	25 Feb 2019 11:07
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/3578

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