ABSTRACT
This chapter considers an argument for the usefulness of organization ecology and institutional approaches in gatekeeping research. The ecology approach and its emphasis on population and boundary formation highlight the importance of the 'collective' level of analysis, which has had a presence in gatekeeping scholarship. Cognitive legitimacy is the degree to which an entity is accepted without question. It is often associated with population growth because it indicates an accepting, predictable environment that smooths the way for startups. The development of legitimacy and wide understanding of media types facilitate boundary spanning: External entities are less likely to seek beneficial relationships with organizations that have unrecognized or illegitimate boundaries. Kurt Lewin's field theory, the spatial metaphor for gatekeeping theory, was adapted from topology, a branch of mathematics that conceives of space as inherently interconnected and relational, of the same substance, and malleable and continuous.
