 Designers’ road(s) to success: Balancing exploration and exploitationSofie Jacobs and Bart Cambré Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 115, issue C, 241-249 Abstract: This study unravels different paths to success for independent designers and focuses on the balance between the artistic and economic considerations they have. Therefore, a comparative case study is presented for 48 designers looking into both business growth and perceived success. The configurational analysis explores the combination of different variables regarding success: exploration (artistic consideration), exploitation (economic consideration), job rate and tenure. The application of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis contributes to the exploration of a configurational theory of conditions that explains why some designers achieve business growth and perceived success. To achieve both, a fulltime occupation as designer is essential. No significant proof was found for simultaneously balancing exploration and exploitation to achieve growth. However, most pathways leading to perceived success show a balance between exploration and exploitation. These findings enhance the configurational understanding of the design industry and the development of a configurational theory of performance for creative professions. Keywords: Independent designers; Success; Ambidexterity; fsQCA; Careers (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:115:y:2020:i:c:p:241-249 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.073 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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