Stars in Their Constellations: Great Person or Great Team?

Abstract

Although much attention is accorded to star performers, this paper considers the extent to which stars, themselves, benefit from the contribution of their collaborators (the constellation). By considering stars, constellations, and the synergies between them, we address a key question: To what extent is collaboration performance driven by the great individual or by great constellations? We introduce a novel approach that uses a matching model to uncover the complementarities driving collaboration formation. We use formal value-capture theory to estimate the relative contribution of stars and constellations to joint value creation. Analyzing a sample of academic research collaborations, we document that stars’ relative contribution exceeds that of their constellations in less than 15% of collaborations, although constellations provide a greater relative contribution in 9%. In most collaborations, neither party dominates: Innovation is a collective endeavor driven equally by the star and the constellation. Joint value creation and relative contribution are explained by the subtle interplay between complementarities in joint work and the substitutability of collaborative parties in the market. Joint value creation increases with the strength of complementarities between parties in a match. Relative value creation, and hence dominance, increases with the substitutability of one’s collaborative partner. Interestingly, joint value creation is greatest in collaborations where both stars and constellations offer bundles of rare attributes and where neither the star nor the constellation dominates. This paper was accepted by Olav Sorenson, organizations. Funding: D. Mindruta gratefully acknowledges funding from the HEC Foundation and from the French National Research Agency (ANR) “Investissements d’Avenir” (LabEx Ecodec/ANR-11-LABX-0047). J. Bercovitz and M. Feldman gratefully acknowledge funding from the Science of Science Approach to Analyzing and Innovating the Biomedical Research Enterprise (SCISIPBIO) program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) [Grant 1934875]. Supplemental Material: The online appendices and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.01969 .