Being distinctively similar: The pursuit of optimally distinctive partners in the film industry

Abstract

While homophily is considered one of the primary drivers of partnership decisions, studies also demonstrate that individuals may be simultaneously drawn to partners who present distinctive qualities. Here, a tension may emerge between the pursuit of homophilous partners for fluid collaboration and the pursuit of distinctive partners that would enable the achievement of creative interaction. Drawing on the literature on optimal distinctiveness, we predict that in such cases, the dual pursuit of a similar yet different partner is satisfied by valuing different qualities at different levels of comparison. Specifically, we predict that actors are more likely to select partners who present similar qualities to themselves but sufficiently distinctive among all other available potential candidates. Utilizing a dataset on the Korean film industry from 2000 to 2018, we show that the film directors select actors based on how similar the experiences of the actors are to themselves, but the effect increases when the actor is sufficiently differentiated from the industry peers. The selection seems to follow a two-stage process where the comparison between the selector and the potential partner is initiated first, and then the comparison of the potential partner against all other potential candidates. We contribute to the literature on partnerships by showing that individuals seek optimally distinctive partners through differentiated valuation at the different levels of comparison. Furthermore, we contribute to the market categories literature by extending the theoretical discussion towards the heterogeneity of the individual audience evaluation.