Entrepreneurial collaboration for performance in the labour brokerage industry

This research examines individual entrepreneurial collaborations through a strategic group theoretical application in the fragmented labour brokerage industry. We describe the nature of collective strategy and strategic group activity to understand the behaviour of individuals' collaborations on service transactions. The interfirm and intrafirm collaborative behaviour of entrepreneurs are observed using a multi-level fixed effects linear regression model with 445 firms and over 30,000 transactions. We find internal collaborative activity will not necessarily increase performance but it may assist in higher quality deal flow. This study suggests the entrepreneurial behaviour of individuals operating in a fragmented industry will be to collaborate for more quality deals as opposed to more quantity deals. This behaviour is similarly to participation in strategic groups at the firm level of analysis.