Brokerage as a Public Good: The Externalities of Network Hubs for Different Formal Roles in Creative Organizations

Abstract

Although much is known about how brokerage positions in social networks help individuals improve their own performance, we know little about the impact of brokers on those around them. Our study investigates brokerage as a public good. We focus on the positive and negative externalities of specific kinds of brokers: ''hubs,'' who act as the main interfaces between members of their own network community (''network neighbors'') and members of other communities. Because hubs access diverse knowledge and perspectives, they create positive externalities by providing novel ideas to their network neighbors. But hubs also generate negative externalities: extensive cross-community activity puts heavy demands on their attention and time, so that hubs may not provide strong commitment to their neighbors' projects. Because of this, network neighbors experience different externalities from hubs depending on their own formal role in projects. We use insights from our fieldwork in the French television game show industry to illustrate the mechanisms at play, and we test our theory with archival data on this industry from 1995 to 2012. Results suggest that the positive externalities of hubs help their neighbors contribute to the success of projects when these neighbors hold creativity-focused roles; yet the negative externalities of hubs hinder their neighbors' contributions when they hold efficiency-focused roles.

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

“…In addition, Hubs' brokering activities also harmed producers' contributions to the success of TV shows through a secondary process: Even when hubs were not used on the focal creative project, the overlap in personnel and high interdependence between different production teams meant that the delays and conflicts they created on certain projects had a ripple effect on other creative projects in the same community. These findings by Clement et al (2018) illustrate the benefits of considering brokerage positions and brokering activities together, and highlight that the effects of brokering activities on the collaborative pursuit of creative projects are complex and depend in part on the nature of others' jobs.…”

“…They proposed further that the extent to which hubs' brokering activities create a public good (i.e., improving others' outcomes by contributing to creative projects' success) or a public liability (i.e., hurting others' outcomes by undermining creative projects' success) depends on the functional role of the hub's "neighbors." Clement et al (2018) found support for these hypotheses using archival data from the French TV game show production industry. Specifically, whereas hubs positively influenced creative directors' contributions to the success of TV shows, they negatively influenced producers' contributions to the success of TV shows (operationalized as viewership scores).…”

“…Whereas Lingo and O'Mahony (2010) focused on producers' brokering activities, Clement et al (2018) explored the externalities that brokering activities by other actors create for producers of creative projects. These authors theorized that brokering activities by hubs-defined as individuals who connect distinct communities within an industry-can create positive and negative externalities for executives who manage creative projects.…”

“…Importantly, future research may consider the possibility that brokering processes may produce asymmetric consequences for those involved. Specifically, whereas some brokering processes may benefit the broker and both alters in the triad (Halevy & Halali, 2015), there are contexts in which brokering may benefit some alters while at the same time harming others (Clement et al, 2018;Laskewitz et al, 1994). In addition, future research may explore the possibility that brokers who engage in different brokering activities receive different returns on their investments (of time, effort, and other resources expended in the process of brokering).…”

Brokering Orientations and Social Capital: Influencing Others’ Relationships Shapes Status and Trust

“…For example, ethnographic research with producers of country music in Nashville highlights producers' role in facilitating coordination and cooperation between performers, musicians, songwriters, personal managers, production studio staff (e.g., engineers), and labels (Lingo & O'Mahony, 2010). Additional evidence for the important role brokering processes play in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships comes from field research on the production of TV game shows (Clement, Shipilov, & Galunic, 2017), innovations in the automotive industry , and interdisciplinary collaborations in academia (Kaplan, Milde, & Cowan, 2017). Following the COR framework, we label third parties who engage in brokering behaviors that transform neutral or non-existent ties into positive ties-that is, independence into positive interdependenceintermediaries.…”