Research

Publications

de Fauconberg, A., Berthon, P., and Berthon, J.P. (2018). “Rethinking the marketing of World Heritage Sites: Giving the past a sustainable future.” Journal of Public Affairs, 18(2)e1655.

Despite significant global prestige and strong brand recognition, UNESCO World Heritage Sites remain chronically underfunded, with the World Heritage Fund reduced to approximately $3M USD per annum following the cessation of U.S. contributions in 2013. Sites have grown increasingly reliant on tourist revenue, yet iconic locations face damage from visitor volumes exceeding their capacity while lesser-known locations suffer from too few visitors to sustain operations. Although this situation is widely acknowledge in the heritage literature, few papers have proposed long-term strategic solutions beyond marketing plans for individual sites. We address this by questioning whether World Heritage Sites are currently being marketed in an optimized manner, and propose a generalizable framework drawing on Berthon et al.’s (2009) Aesthetics and Ontology model of luxury consumption. Using Popper’s three worlds hypothesis – i.e., the physical, subjective, and intersubjective – we argue that site managers are overly focused on the site as a material object while neglecting the experiential dimensions that drive visitor engagement. We identify four distinct consumer modes (i.e., Modern, Classic, Postmodern, and Wabi Sabi) and demonstrate through contrasting cases how matching consumer types with appropriate site experiences can optimize both conservation outcomes and economic sustainability. This framework offers policy makers and site managers a theoretically grounded approach for building stronger reciprocal relationships between visitors, sites, and surrounding communities.

Book Chapters

de Fauconberg, D., de Fauconberg, A., and Volkan, K. (forthcoming, 2026). “Reshaping Physician Identity: Medical Legitimacy and the Rise of Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine.” Chapter 5 in Organization Studies and Medical Humanities, edited by A. Bernardi, B. Quacquarelli, & F. Angeli. London: Routledge.

Prior research on professional identity in healthcare has largely examined how physicians respond to changing institutional logics within established medical specialties. However, less is known about how physicians reconcile identity tensions when navigating between an increasingly corporatized healthcare environment and the growing acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). We address this by examining two emerging practice fields in U.S. healthcare: Integrative Medicine (IM), represented by the Academy of Integrative Heath and Medicine (IAHM), and Lifestyle Medicine (LM), represented by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). Through historical analysis of archival documents and scholarly sources, we trace how these fields evolved from marginal movements in the 1960s alternative health era to legitimated, board-certified specialties recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties. Drawing on practice-driven institutionalism and principles of narrative medicine, we find that physicians practicing at the intersection of traditional biomedicine and CAM actively construct their professional identities through collective “re-storying” – i.e., crafting new professional narratives that legitimate alternative therapeutic approaches while preserving their status as medical authorities. Our analysis reveals how specialty-specific professional organizations have further supplanted the American Medical Association as primary sites of physicians’ identity formation, and how distinct reimbursement structures shape whether physicians can align their practices with their values.

Papers under Review

Feix, A., de Fauconberg, A., and Gruban, M. [title omitted for peer review].

Revise-and-Resubmit (Organization & Environment).

Working Papers

de Fauconberg, A., and Grimes, M. “A Theory of Entrepreneurial Runways in the Context of Moonshot Innovations.”

Manuscript in preparation for submission. Ventures pursing “moonshot” innovations – i.e., transformative societal goals achieved through ambitious, long-term inventions – face a fundamental resourcing challenge: they must construct and maintain entrepreneurial runways in the absence of material proof that their core innovation will succeed. We ask: how do founders of moonshot ventures mobilized sustained resource support when they cannot yet demonstrate material progress towards their ultimate goals? Drawing on research on entrepreneurial resourcing and the sociology of expectations, we develop a theory of entrepreneurial runways – i.e., the temporal, financial, and institutional resources required for moonshot ventures to navigate extended development timelines and maintain commitment to transformative goals in the absence of early market signals. Our conceptual model identifies three sequential stages of runway construction, each characterized by distinct, expectation-related tensions that threaten continued resource mobilization. Our model contributes to entrepreneurial resourcing research by revealing how ventures strategically leverage multiple forms of social proof as a substitute for material evidence, while extending theory on the sociology of expectations to consider their evolution across venture development.

de Fauconberg, A., and Grimes, M. “Values homophily in action: Co-founder authentication processes during team formation.”

Manuscript in preparation for submission. How do entrepreneurs assess values alignment when forming founding teams? Through an ethnographic study of early-stage impact-focused venture formation, we develop a process model of co-founder authentication – i.e., the interpersonal practices through which prospective co-founders surface, test, and validate shared values. We reveal how entrepreneurs privilege enacted values over espoused values, and theorize the role of values homophily in founding team composition.

de Fauconberg, A. “The Power (and Stigma) of Oil: Strategic Identity Positioning and Innovation in the Energy Sector.”

Manuscript in preparation for submission. This study examines how organizations in stigmatized industries manage strategic identity positioning while pursuing transformative innovations. Using the energy sector as an empirical setting, I explore how firms navigate competing demands to maintain legitimacy with diverse stakeholders while responding to calls to pivot towards renewable and alternative energy technologies, revealing the identity tensions that emerge during sectoral transitions.

de Fauconberg, A., Caines, L., and Grimes, M. “Navigating Endogenous Existential Risks: Entrepreneurial Responses to the Climate Crisis.”

This paper examines how entrepreneurs developing geoengineering ventures to address climate change impacts make sense of and respond to endogenous existential risks – i.e., threats generated through the creation of their ventures. We explore how founders navigate the tension between urgent imperatives and processes of entrepreneurial action, contributing to emerging conversations on business responsibility and entrepreneurship in extreme contexts.

de Fauconberg, A., and Grimes, M. “Values Alignment and Venture Survival: A Longitudinal Study of Impact-Focused Entrepreneurial Teams.”

This study examines the relationship between co-founder values alignment and venture survival among impact-focused entrepreneurial teams. Using longitudinal data, we investigate whether and how initial values congruence shapes team dynamics, strategic decision-making, and ultimate venture outcomes, contributing to conversations on founding team composition and impact entrepreneurship.