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The market for meaning: A new entrepreneurial approach to creative industries dynamics

Journal of Cultural Economics volume 45, pages 491–511 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Economists have long sought to better understand how cultural value is transformed into economic value in creative industries. We propose a three-phase model for this mechanism in which the economic creation of cultural value begins with private cultural production and consumption from which a cultural entrepreneur discovers or perceives meaning. A cultural trajectory then unfolds through a second phase as meaning is refined, tested, developed into a shared experience in a cultural market. In the third phase, meaning is organized into an economic and cultural form and feeds back into cultural production. We illustrate this model of a ‘market for meaning’ with a case study of K-pop. We discuss implications of our model for theories of the entrepreneurial process and theories of cultural and creative industries.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Young Scholar Fellowship Program from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan for funding this project (MOST 110-2636-H-006-001). This study was also supported in part by the Higher Education Sprout Project, Ministry of Education to the Headquarters of University Advancement at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). The authors are also grateful for the insightful comments of the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Douglas Noonan and the four anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of International Management, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, ROC

    Yu-Yu Chang

  2. Cross College Elite Program, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, ROC

    Yu-Yu Chang

  3. RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Jason Potts

  4. School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Jason Potts

  5. Institute of Technology Management, National Tsing Hua University, No.101, Sec. 2, Guangfu Rd, Hsinchu city, 30013, Taiwan, ROC

    Hui-Yu Shih

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  1. Yu-Yu Chang
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Correspondence to Yu-Yu Chang.

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Chang, YY., Potts, J. & Shih, HY. The market for meaning: A new entrepreneurial approach to creative industries dynamics. J Cult Econ 45, 491–511 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-021-09416-5

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Keywords

  • Cultural entrepreneurship
  • Creative industries
  • Cultural markets
  • Cultural production
  • Meaning
  • K-Pop