Small world networks have received disproportionate notice in di- verse fields because of their suspected effect on system dynamics. The authors analyzed the small world network of the creative artists who made Broadway musicals from 1945 to 1989. Using original arguments, new statistical methods, and tests of construct validity, they found that the varying “small world” properties of the systemic- level network of these artists affected their creativity in terms of the financial and artistic performance of the musicals they produced.
The small world network effect was parabolic; performance increased up to a threshold, after which point the positive effects reversed.
chengjun
commented
3 years ago 
Brian Uzzi
Northwestern University
Jarrett Spiro
Stanford University
Small world networks have received disproportionate notice in di- verse fields because of their suspected effect on system dynamics. The authors analyzed the small world network of the creative artists who made Broadway musicals from 1945 to 1989. Using original arguments, new statistical methods, and tests of construct validity, they found that the varying “small world” properties of the systemic- level network of these artists affected their creativity in terms of the financial and artistic performance of the musicals they produced.