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Institutional Arbitrageurs: The Role of Product Managers as a Locus of Change in Journalism

Author

Listed:
  • Allie Kosterich

    (Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, USA)

  • Cindy Royal

    (School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas State University, USA)

Abstract

The modern news industry demands a continuous stream of products ready to meet audience needs; the emergent newsroom role of product manager serves to prioritize them by providing a holistic perspective on an organization’s goals. Product professionals bring in new skill sets and help to bridge the divide and align the priorities among editorial, business, and technology functions, serving as a locus of change in journalism. This sets the stage for institutional complexity where actors struggle to make decisions due to competing logics, which are socially constructed rules created to normalize behavior. This article thus focuses on the dynamics of change in a complex environment by examining news product professionals as institutional arbitrageurs, which are actors who bring competing logics together to create value during a time of complexity. This framing raises questions regarding the locus of change in journalism and aims to further understand the tactics used by actors in a complex environment such as the field of journalism. A qualitative study using interviews with digital journalism’s product professionals is used to address this phenomenon, which allows for a theoretical contextualization of the dynamics of change in journalism and specifically, how product managers act as a locus of change using their roles to manage complexity by bringing incompatible logics together to leverage differences between them.

Suggested Citation

  • Allie Kosterich & Cindy Royal, 2024. "Institutional Arbitrageurs: The Role of Product Managers as a Locus of Change in Journalism," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v12:y:2024:a:7374
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.7374
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sherwin Chua & Andrew Duffy, 2019. "Friend, Foe or Frenemy? Traditional Journalism Actors’ Changing Attitudes towards Peripheral Players and Their Innovations," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 112-122.
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    Cited by:

    1. Frank Harbers & Sandra Banjac & Scott A. Eldridge II, 2024. "Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Media Innovation and Change," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.

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