Political Ideology and Collaboration: Evidence from the Artist Blacklist Disclosure in South Korea

Abstract

While political ideology has been discussed as an important source of social identification, less has been investigated on the impact of political ideology on the formation of collaboration relationships. In this study, we examine whether the alignment in terms of political ideology affects the degree to which collaboration relationships are established. We conceptualize the idea of ideological homophily, which refers to the perception of similarity in terms of political orientation, and suggest that this may serve as a strong driver of collaboration decisions. We exploit the exogenous disclosure of the artist blacklist created by the South Korean government in 2016 and show that the film directors who were blacklisted by the conservative regime in South Korea are significantly more likely to establish collaborative relationships with fellow blacklisted actors. We also show such collaboration decisions based on homophily are stronger for directors who are of lower status in the industry and who possess greater social capital. A series of analyses including alternative model choices and matching techniques provide additional support for our predictions. We contribute to the literature on homophily by showing that individuals of the same political ideologies are more likely to collaborate. We also shed light on various boundary conditions that helps explain when and how ideological homophily influences collaboration decisions.