Positive Collaborations: Understanding Positive Relationships among Key Actors in Creative and Cultural Cluster in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

The main purpose of this study was to investigate social network insights among key actors in creative and cultural cluster in Georgetown, Malaysia as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Chain-referral method was used to identify and select the sample. In the end, 115 key actors representing various organizations were interviewed. In the interviews, respondents reported their collaborations with other organizations and rated their satisfaction with these collaborations. More specifically, they were requested to report up to 5 key collaborators by describing the nature of collaborations, their satisfaction with the collaborations and their willingness to work again with the partner in the future. Most organizations reported less than 5 collaborators. Analysing qualitative responses to these questions revealed that organizations were mainly satisfied with their collaborators and were willing to work again with them in the future. Further analysis indicated elements of support, common goals, mutual benefits, connection, similarity, growth and cooperation were important in these collaborations. This is somewhat consistent with elements of positive relationships which include support, understanding, interaction and companionships, reliable alliance, trust, mutual respect, optimism, motivation, and positive emotions (Webster-Stratton, 1999; Crohn, 2006; Pendergast, 2006; Fallah, 2010 & Roffey, 2012). This is also consistent with previous studies on succesful collaborations which indicated by positive shared history, trust, leadership, interpersonal relationships and shared goals (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013; Bunger, 2013; Proulx, Hager & Klein, 2014). However, positive collaboration in business as reported by respondents in this study appeared to emphasise more on the mutual elements and similarities but less on the intimacy, closeness, emotions and caring aspects. This highlights the uniqueness of positive collaborations in comparison to positive relationships. This paper supports the potential to expand positive psychology and positive relationships paradigm to the context of business relationships.