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Specialization in the marketplace for ideas
Organizations that compete for attention in the marketplace face a strategic decision: whether to target a specialized niche or diversify to reach a broader market. Previous research has extensively analyzed the specialization dilemma faced by for-profit firms. We extend the analysis to knowledge-sh...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10599521/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37878659 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293355 |
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author | Wang, Sirui Macy, Michael Nee, Victor |
author_facet | Wang, Sirui Macy, Michael Nee, Victor |
author_sort | Wang, Sirui |
collection | PubMed |
description | Organizations that compete for attention in the marketplace face a strategic decision: whether to target a specialized niche or diversify to reach a broader market. Previous research has extensively analyzed the specialization dilemma faced by for-profit firms. We extend the analysis to knowledge-sharing groups in the marketplace of ideas. Using data on over 1,500 technology groups collected from an online event-organizing platform over a fifteen-year period, we measure the effect of topical focus, rarity, novelty, and technical exclusivity on audience growth, retention, and sustained engagement. We find that knowledge-sharing groups benefit marginally by specializing in rare topics but not in new topics. The strongest predictor of growth and survival is whether the group is associated with technically sophisticated topics, regardless of the breadth of focus, even though technical topics are less widely accessible. We conclude that what matters is not how specialized the organization, but how the organization is specialized. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10599521 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105995212023-10-26 Specialization in the marketplace for ideas Wang, Sirui Macy, Michael Nee, Victor PLoS One Research Article Organizations that compete for attention in the marketplace face a strategic decision: whether to target a specialized niche or diversify to reach a broader market. Previous research has extensively analyzed the specialization dilemma faced by for-profit firms. We extend the analysis to knowledge-sharing groups in the marketplace of ideas. Using data on over 1,500 technology groups collected from an online event-organizing platform over a fifteen-year period, we measure the effect of topical focus, rarity, novelty, and technical exclusivity on audience growth, retention, and sustained engagement. We find that knowledge-sharing groups benefit marginally by specializing in rare topics but not in new topics. The strongest predictor of growth and survival is whether the group is associated with technically sophisticated topics, regardless of the breadth of focus, even though technical topics are less widely accessible. We conclude that what matters is not how specialized the organization, but how the organization is specialized. Public Library of Science 2023-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10599521/ /pubmed/37878659 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293355 Text en © 2023 Wang et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Wang, Sirui Macy, Michael Nee, Victor Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title | Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title_full | Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title_fullStr | Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title_full_unstemmed | Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title_short | Specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
title_sort | specialization in the marketplace for ideas |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10599521/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37878659 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293355 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT wangsirui specializationinthemarketplaceforideas AT macymichael specializationinthemarketplaceforideas AT neevictor specializationinthemarketplaceforideas |