Inclusive Brokerage as Competitive Advantage: TMT Network Diversity in Project-Based and Service-Intensive Industries

Measure how top management team (TMT) social network structure and identity diversity jointly produce “inclusive brokerage”—access to otherwise disconnected stakeholder groups—which then drives service innovation, employee justice, and customer experience advantages. This idea fuses prior research on TMT social networks as strategic assets, conflicting findings on TMT gender diversity, and the importance of networked capabilities in project-based industries. It moves beyond diversity presence to networked diversity as a dynamic capability, positing interaction effects where diversity without external brokerage may not yield advantage, and brokerage without inclusion may create legitimacy gaps. This explains variance in diversity–performance findings by specifying network-mediated mechanisms and industry contingencies (hospitality, media, higher education). The impact includes actionable levers for boards on composing TMTs for maximal network advantage. Methods involve multiplex network mapping of TMT ties, identity diversity measures (including non-binary categories), and structural equation modeling of pathways to innovation, justice, and performance.

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