Intermediaries’ Commitment in Investments and Performance of Project-based Ventures

Previous studies focus on founder reputation to explain investments in project-based ventures (PBVs) and the PBV’s future performance. In this study, we focus on the resource commitment and dual role of intermediaries both as “selector” and “partner” of PBVs. First, as selector, we hypothesize that the intermediary’s commitment can positively moderate the effect of its own reputation as well as the PBV founder’s reputation on attracting investments. Second, as partner, we hypothesize that the intermediary’s commitment mediates the effect of the PBV founder's reputation on the PBV's eventual performance. Finally, we hypothesize that past collaboration between the intermediary and the PBV founder positively moderates the relation between PBV founder’s reputation and PBV performance. We conduct our quantitative study in the empirical context of the film industry with film productions as PBVs, film producers as PBV founders, film distributors as intermediaries between the producer and its investors, and intermediaries between the film and its audience. Intermediary’s commitment is measured as the number of opening screens during the film release. We find support for all our hypotheses, except for the moderation effect of the intermediary’s commitment on the relationship between the intermediary's reputation and investments in the PBV