Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

Levy, Orly; Lee, Hyun-Jung; Jonsen, Karsten; Peiperl, Maury

Abstract

The growth and proliferation of global systems and transnational cultures have generated larger and more diverse types of cosmopolitans, all of whom span conventional social boundaries. Understanding this diversity is increasingly important because cosmopolitans often bridge across a wide range of transnational and global networks within and across global organizations. Drawing on multiple disciplines, we conceptualize cosmopolitanism as an embodied disposition characterized by high levels of cultural transcendence and openness that are manifested in and enacted along varied trajectories of cultural embeddedness in one’s own culture and cultural engagement with the cultural Other. We then propose an analytical framework for the influence of cosmopolitan disposition on transcultural brokerage processes, specifically on bridging structural and cultural holes. Finally, we present a typology of cosmopolitan brokers and their corresponding practices and activities as they engage in transcultural brokerage. By recognizing the diversity of cosmopolitans and their respective dispositions, we significantly expand the pool of “global talent” beyond the traditional focus on expatriates, and we challenge the conventional wisdom on who counts as talent in an interconnected world.

Citation

Levy, O., Lee, H.-J., Jonsen, K., & Peiperl, M. (2019). Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes. Journal of Management, 45(2), 417-450. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318773404

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 23, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 21, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Management
• Print ISSN: 0149-2063
• Electronic ISSN: 1557-1211
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 45
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 417-450
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318773404
• Keywords: cosmopolitanism, transcultural brokerage, global talent, structural holes, cultural holes