Mobilizing Marginal Resources for Public Events

Abstract

Marginal resources are important for organizers of public events. In the present context, marginal resources are defined as resources that providers can offer to events in periods when these resources cannot be put to productive use in their regular operations. Such marginal resources are often mobilized through networks of social relationships when the resource providers regard a connection to the public event as being valuable. The mobilization of marginal resources is analyzed using a network approach and by analyzing the motives of the participating resource providers. Cases involving two public events are presented in order to illustrate the mobilization and the development of patterns and routines over time. The cases indicate that resources are mainly mobilized through networking. Building and using the legitimacy of the event are important factors in this process. The actors providing resources are motivated by a mix of interests, but most of them have an idealistic interest in the event. The mobilized resources are combined in ways that create economy of scope and scale for the organizer. Over time, a recurring event benefits from experience and learned behavior among the actors involved. It seems to be easier to mobilize resources in a community where the actors, and clusters of actors, are well connected with each other.