Competitive dynamics research has often used the AMC framework—awareness, motivation, and capability—to explain how different factors influence the identification of specific other firms as competitors and the likelihood of future competitive interactions with them. However, this stream of research has largely overlooked the role of social evaluations in determining which firms are targeted. We study how a specific form of social evaluation—relative status—impacts the firm's awareness of specific competitors and the motivation to attack them. Whereas prior research has principally viewed the AMC framework as a Gestalt-like black box, our research setting enabled us to measure and explore the interrelationships that occur within the AMC framework. We pose our theory as competing logics: Awareness mediates the relationship between relative status and motivation versus relative status moderates the relationship between awareness and motivation. We tested these competing arguments using a unique dataset of food trucks in a mid-sized city in the U.S. We find that low-status firms exhibit a strong motivation to attack higher-status competitors primarily due to the greater attention the high-status firms garner. Further, we find no support for a moderation effect. Our study helps arrive at a better understand the interplay between awareness and motivation in the context of social evaluations.

中文翻译：

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攻击还是不攻击？相对地位、意识和动机的作用


竞争动力学研究经常使用 AMC 框架（意识、动机和能力）来解释不同的因素如何影响将特定其他公司识别为竞争对手以及未来与它们进行竞争互动的可能性。然而，这一系列研究在很大程度上忽视了社会评估在确定哪些公司成为目标方面的作用。我们研究一种特定形式的社会评价（相对地位）如何影响公司对特定竞争对手的认识以及攻击他们的动机。虽然以前的研究主要将 AMC 框架视为类似格式塔的黑匣子，但我们的研究环境使我们能够衡量和探索 AMC 框架内发生的相互关系。我们将我们的理论视为相互竞争的逻辑：意识调节相对地位和动机之间的关系，而相对地位调节意识和动机之间的关系。我们使用美国一个中型城市的食品卡车的独特数据集来测试这些相互竞争的论点。我们发现，低地位公司表现出攻击高地位竞争对手的强烈动机，主要是因为高地位公司获得了更多的关注。此外，我们发现没有支持调节效应。我们的研究有助于更好地了解社会评价背景下意识和动机之间的相互作用。