Network centrality and creativity in the board game industry: Crowdfunding as a contingency

Positions of intermediate network centrality have been found to be advantageous for creativity. Extending this line of work, we suggest that the potential benefits of positions of varying degrees of network centrality depend on the underlying approach to innovation. Using qualitative data from the board game industry, we first contrast the properties of two innovation approaches, a traditional, firm-internal approach versus a crowdfunding approach. Adopting an opportunity realization logic, we advance the idea that positions of intermediate network centrality enhance creativity when accompanied by a more traditional approach to innovation, but that positions at either the core or the periphery of the network aid creativity when creators employ a crowdfunding approach to innovation. We test our arguments in a sample of 6863 board games that were developed and realized either in the traditional way or using crowdfunding. Our results confirm that the value of network positions hinges upon the underlying innovation approach and highlight the implications of crowdfunding for creativity. • We highlight the unique structural properties of crowdfunding as a distinct approach to innovation. • Crowdfunding serves a key contingency, steering idea generation and realization. • Traditional versus crowdfunding approaches to innovation shape the value of network positions to produce creative outcomes.