While management and network scholars have long asked why some groups adapt to innovation more readily than others, such questions have been surprisingly absent in studies of new media production. We offer a network analytical framework which relates producers’ informal networks to their capacity to adopt digital innovations. Through a network ethnography of 4264 romance writers, we find that established authors who reversed traditional advice patterns, by seeking advice from inexperienced newcomers rather than experienced peers, were more likely to adopt digital self-publishing. By linking the concept of relational labor to network structures, we demonstrate the value of “networking down” in a digitally disrupted cultural industry—a surprising finding in a business where networking up, to powerful actors, has seemed critical for success. We argue that strategic relational labor by established content creators facilitates adaptation to digital conditions and provides some measure of protection against precarity in a changing landscape.
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We posit that within such networks, elite incumbents who strategically invest relational labor into forming advice ties with innovative newcomers will adopt innovation more readily than incumbents who seek advice from similar peers. [...]
We examine this proposition by analyzing informal advice networks among romance writers during the introduction of digital self-publishing between 2009 and 2014. Romance publishing offers an ideal site to explore the adoption of innovation for several reasons. First, romance authors adapted to the platformization of publishing far more quickly and successfully than other authors. Second, not all established romance authors adopted digital self-publishing— some stayed only with traditional publishing houses. This offers a chance to contrast digital adopters with nonadopters.
Finally, the romance writing community offers a rich tradition of relational labor and advice-sharing.
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