海角社区

Abstract

Much of economic and social life depends on experts who draw on their knowledge and specialized practices to make decisions and solve problems. Prior literature suggests that the trust and authority that experts enjoy in relation to clients stems from the uniqueness and obscurity of their knowledge and practices. However, many experts serve clients who possess similar knowledge and have familiar 鈥� and even comparable 鈥� practices. How do experts manage knowledge overlaps with clients, and with what consequences? In this paper, we draw on archival data and interviews to inductively study the work of seven equity research analyst teams who serve large institutional investors. By tracing their work over a decade, we found that these groups engaged in significant effort to manage knowledge overlaps, yet did so in varying ways. In particular, we found that analyst teams differed in their 鈥渆xpert stances,鈥� which we define as their positioning of epistemic worth and relational authority to clients. Three teams engaged in differentiating, where they attempted create authority by establishing their own superior knowledge of finance. By contrast, four teams instead employed the stance of bridging, attempting to ground their authority in complementary industry knowledge. These expert stances shaped how analysts performed their work as well as the perceptions of clients.

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