NETWORK MEMORY: THE INFLUENCE OF PAST AND CURRENT NETWORKS ON PERFORMANCE.

Abstract

Investigating the efficacy of two alternative network structures, closure and structural holes, from the contingent perspective of time, we connect past and current social structures to outcomes. We show that, in the Italian television production industry, current structural holes rather than past ones, but past closure rather than current closure, help current network performance. Thus, structural holes and closure are both valuable, but at different points in time.