The ties that lead: A social network approach to leadership

This article investigates, for leadership research, the implications of new directions in social network theory that emphasize networks as both cognitive structures in the minds of organizational members and opportunity structures that facilitate and constrain action. We introduce the four core ideas at the heart of the network research program: the importance of relations, actors' embeddedness, the social utility of connections, and the structural patterning of social life. Then we present a theoretical model of how network cognitions in the minds of leaders affect three types of networks: the direct ties surrounding leaders, the pattern of direct and indirect ties within which leaders are embedded in the whole organization and the interorganizational linkages formed by leaders as representatives of organizations. We suggest that these patterns of ties can contribute to leader effectiveness.     

Network influence and organizational performance: The effects of tie strength and structural equivalence

We combine theory and empirical evidence to develop and test three related claims about how ties strength and structural equivalence affect interorganizational performance similarity. First, network partners attain similar levels of performance because direct network ties facilitate information and resource sharing, and the diffusion of organizational practices. Organizations occupying similar network positions attain similar levels of performance because they face similar competitive constraints. Second, because mechanisms underlying performance similarity implied by direct network ties and similarity in network positions are different, strength of network ties and network position affect different dimensions of organizational performance. Third, we expect that tie strength will affect aspects of performance that are more likely to be influenced by processes activated by the direct contact between network partners. We expect structural equivalence to affect more strongly those aspects of organizational performance that are more directly influenced by competition. An analysis of interorganizational networks and organizational performance within a regional community of hospitals provides evidence in support of these claims. Models estimated on a sample of 8190 interorganizational dyads suggest that the effects of tie strength and structural equivalence on organizational performance are highly differentiated and contingent on specific aspects of performance. We show that these conclusions are robust with respect to a wide variety of other factors that may be responsible for performance similarity including competitive interdependence, structural homophily, and resource complementarity.     

Rich Ties and Innovative Knowledge Transfer within a Firm

We show that contacts in formal, informal and especially multiplex networks explain transfer of innovative knowledge in an organization. The contribution of informal contacts has been much acknowledged, while that of formal contacts did not receive much attention in the literature in recent decades. No study thus far has included both these different kinds of contacts in a firm, let alone considered their combined effect. The exact overlap between formal as well as informal contacts between individuals, forming multiplex or what we call rich ties because of their contribution, especially drives the transfer of new, innovative knowledge in a firm. Studying two cases in very different settings suggests these rich ties have a particularly strong effect on knowledge transfer in an organization, even when controlling for the strength of ties. Some of the effects on knowledge transfer in an organization previously ascribed to either the formal network or the informal network may actually be due to their combined effect in a rich tie.     

基于正式结构与非正式网络的企业内部知识共享优化方法

从社会网络视角提出一种基于正式结构与非正式网络的企业内部知识共享优化方法;从解构企业内部社会网络的角度出发,对承载企业内部知识共享的正式结构、非正式网络及其4个子结构(被忽视的正式结构、被利用的正式结构、被利用的非正式网络和潜在的非正式网络)进行分析;依据网络特征识别关键的知识代理人和任务导向的知识共享缺口,在此基础上对企业内部知识共享进行优化。     

Managing Maturing Government‐Supported Networks: The Shift from Monitoring to Embeddedness Controls

In formal inter‐firm networks backed with significant financial support by policy‐makers, network boards are typically established to monitor network activities and to manage the tension between organizational and collective interests. This approach to network governance, however, builds mainly upon agency logic. We integrate agency with embeddedness theory to offer insights into the effectiveness of monitoring as a governance mechanism as networks mature and member firms become embedded. The analyses focus on two issues: (1) how network board characteristics typically associated with monitoring – board independence, board size and board compensation – influence network performance; and (2) how these effects are moderated by network age. The model is tested with longitudinal data on 53 government‐supported networks. In addition to the direct effects of board characteristics, network board size and board compensation have a stronger positive impact on network performance in younger networks than in more mature networks. This study provides insight into why the instituting of boards may prove successful for network‐level performance in newly formed government‐supported networks, but also explains why the positive effects from network board monitoring may diminish as networks grow older.     

CEO网络嵌入性与企业价值

以社会网络理论为理论依据,本文构建了CEO网络嵌入性与企业价值关系的概念模型,提出CEO网络嵌入性与企业价值变化正相关的假设。运用结构方程方法的模型发展策略,选取2009年A股非金融保险业上市公司为样本,对概念模型与实证数据进行契合,得到一个在统计上与样本数据能够良好适配的理论模型。通过对模型进行实证检验,证实了本文所提出的理论假设和概念模型的合理性。     

When managers become leaders: The role of manager network centralities,social power,and followers' perception of leadership

We explore how formal managers' centralities in both positive and negative networks predict followers' perceptions of their leadership. By incorporating social networks and social ledger theory with implicit leadership theories (ILTs), we hypothesize that formally assigned group leaders (managers) who have more positive advice ties and fewer negative avoidance ties are more likely to be recognized as leaders by their followers. Further, we posit that managers' informal networks bring them greater social power, an important attribute differentiating leaders from non-leaders. We conducted two survey-based studies in student and field teams to test the hypotheses. Based on nested data in both studies, we found support for our hypotheses. These results remain robust across the two studies even though they used different designs (cross-sectional versus longitudinal), different samples (field versus students) across different countries (United States versus India), and a host of control variables at both the leader and follower levels. We find that managers who are central in the advice network are socially powerful and are seen as leaders by individual followers. In contrast, managers who are avoided by followers lack informal social power are not seen as leaders. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and the ways in which our theory and results extend ILTs and social network theory.     

创业网络中基于关系信任的信息搜寻行为研究

创业网络是创业主体获得创业信息的重要渠道,创业主体对信息搜寻受到网络关系以及网络信任的影响,创业主体在信息搜寻过程中更倾向于高信任度的网络个体。本文从创业网络的关系信任出发分析了创业网络中创业主体的信息搜寻行为,并根据蚁群理论提出了信息搜寻模型;同时从创业网络层面分析了信任中介在促进和优化创业网络中信息流动的作用。     

SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE BOARDROOM

This paper provides evidence that social networks strongly affect board composition and are detrimental to corporate governance. Our empirical investigation relies on a large data set of executives and outside directors of French public firms. This data source is a matched employer–employee data set that provides detailed information on directors/CEOs as well as information about the firm employing them. We find a strong and robust correlation between the CEO's network and that of his directors. Networks of former high‐ranking civil servants are the most active in shaping board composition. Our identification strategy takes into account not only firm and directors’ fixed effects but also the matching of firms and director in terms of one observable and one unobservable characteristic. Turning to the direct effects of such network activity, we find that firms in which these networks are most active pay their CEOs more, are less likely to replace a CEO who underperforms, and engage in less value‐creating acquisitions. These findings suggest that social networks are active in the boardroom and have detrimental effects on firms’ governance.     

Embedded Networks and Suboptimal Resource Matching in Alliance Formations

Interest has been growing in alliance networks, and research has demonstrated several advantages of embedded networks, including joint problem solving. How embedded networks function as social capital and promote alliance formation has also been explored. However, less is known about constraints that they impose on firms’ extensive search for partners. In this study, we advance our understanding of the downsides of embedded networks by proposing that embedded networks facilitate alliance formations, but they may also cause suboptimal resource matching in alliance formations. Specifically, we predict that, in alliances where initial resource matching is more important than ex post collaborative activities, suboptimal resource matching is more likely when firms ally with partners with which they have pre‐existing direct or indirect ties and that such alliances decrease firm‐level resource utilization performance in operations. Using codeshare alliance data from the global airline industry, we find support for our predictions.     

网络嵌入结构对企业创新行为影响的实证研究

本文基于网络结构嵌入理论,研究了网络结构不同维度对企业创新行为的影响。利用331份企业有效样本数据进行统计分析,对本文的理论模型进行了检验。实证研究结果表明:关系强度、网络位置和网络密度均对渐进式创新产生显著正向影响,而对突变式创新产生显著负向影响;网络异质性对渐进式创新产生显著负向影响,但对突变式创新产生显著正向影响。     

Towards a Theory of Network Facilitation: A Microfoundations Perspective on the Antecedents,Practices and Outcomes of Network Facilitation

Firms cooperate in inter‐firm networks to foster their competitiveness and improve their innovation outcomes. In many cases, network facilitators who are either embedded in a lead firm or a third‐party organization manage the cooperation among the network firms. This qualitative study adopts a microfoundations perspective to investigate the behavioural antecedents of the network facilitators, their facilitation practices and the related network‐level outcomes. Results show that lead‐firm facilitators more strongly invest in trust‐building measures since they are considered deficient in benevolence and integrity. Without these investments, they run the risk that conflicts of interest hinder the stimulation of positive network‐level outcomes. Third‐party facilitators, by contrast, enjoy certain credits of trust and focus on balancing firm interests from the network's activation, but need to invest in enhancing their competencies and skills with regard to the industry the firms operate in. The findings contribute to developing a theory of network facilitation by providing a nuanced understanding of how network‐level outcomes can be reduced to individual‐level factors.     

Genesis of a research field: district,network, strategic network

This article summarizes the changes since the beginning of the 1980s in the scholarly approach to organizational and economic research on Italian firms. Beginning with the study of industrial districts, which sparked a major reconsideration of the conventional wisdom, most scholars focused primarily on the significance of firm geographical proximity while marginalizing issues related to firm structure and strategy. Nevertheless, industrial district research eventually led to the question of firm networks, in particular how to manage relational capabilities and cooperation, both of which affect a firm’s competitive position. This new analytical framework no longer dependent on either the single firm or an industrial sector has opened up new research perspectives that promise rich insights into socio-economic studies.     

Role of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties and firm activity in the home country in the internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms

Using a sample of 210 Chinese returnees' entrepreneurial firms, we examined how the overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties of the returnee entrepreneurs affected their firms' internationalization in the returnees' former host countries. We found that both types of overseas ties were correlated with increased levels of internationalization and they interact positively. We then investigated whether the impacts of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties on firm internationalization were moderated by the length of the firms' domestic operations. We found that longer domestic operations were correlated with increased positive impacts of overseas ethnic ties, but decreased positive impacts of overseas non-ethnic ties on firm internationalization. These findings indicate that the returnees' host country ties and firm activity in home country had joint effects on returnee entrepreneurial firms seeking to internationalize their businesses.     

Power imbalance and value creation in joint ventures

Joint ventures (JVs) often do not create expected value due to power imbalance between partners. Despite the fact that JV partners are embedded in relational constraints, prior research has largely relied on economic reasoning by focusing on equity ownership difference between JV partners as the main source of power imbalance. We extend prior research to also consider important relational factors represented by repeated ties between partners and network openness, as well as institutional status difference and network status difference as two additional dimensions of power imbalance. Our findings indicate that ownership power imbalance by itself does not have a significant effect on value creation. However, value creation is facilitated when there is ownership power imbalance between partners with more repeated ties. In contrast, value creation may be hindered when JV partners with unequal ownership are embedded in more open interfirm alliance networks. Furthermore, value creation is facilitated if JV partners that have unequal ownership also have network status power imbalance in the same direction.     

Opportunism in Distribution Networks: The Role of Network Embeddedness and Dependence

Prior research documents the value of network relationships to firm behavior but is relatively silent on how networks influence opportunism in distribution channels. Focusing on a common type of distribution networks in which multiple distributors serve a single, dominant supplier, this study moves beyond a dyadic view to examine how a focal distributor's relational and structural embeddedness in such a distribution network influences its opportunism toward the dominant supplier. In particular, we postulate that a distributor's relational embeddedness in the network curbs its opportunism, whereas its network centrality, as a form of structural embeddedness in the network, promotes its opportunism. Moreover, we propose that relational embeddedness magnifies the role of a focal distributor's dependence on the supplier in suppressing the distributor's opportunism, whereas network centrality buffers such a role. We first empirically test these hypotheses using data collected from car dealers in China; the results provide support for the hypotheses. We then develop an analytical model to validate and further explain the underlying mechanisms of the network effects. Our analytical results not only validate the empirical results but also provide guidance for managers on controlling opportunism in distribution networks.     

Governance dynamics in inter-organizational networks: A meta-ethnographic study

Governance has been a pervasive theme in the discussions of strategy and management in the context of inter-organizational networks. To date, network researchers call for a dynamic theory of governance to deal with increased uncertainty in the network environment. In response to this call, this study aims to generate a better understanding of how and why governance in inter-organizational networks can change over time and what implications these governance dynamics have for the network and its members. A meta-ethnographic analysis of 15 longitudinal case studies reveals that network actors can combine relational and formal governance in different ways over time, thereby constituting three governance patterns: the relational celebration pattern, the competitive protection pattern, and the forced facilitation pattern. The relational celebration and competitive protection patterns can generate favorable outcomes for the network and its members if disagreement about the formal governance terms is eliminated by revising these terms and/or repeating the pattern with a subset of the network members. In the case of the forced facilitation pattern, favorable network outcomes emerge if different types of relational governance are balanced. By detailing how and why governance patterns emerge and can generate favorable outcomes for the network and its members, the present research creates a better understanding of governance dynamics for researchers, business practitioners, and policymakers.     

Solutions to the Exploration/Exploitation Dilemma: Networks as a New Level of Analysis

This paper reviews the extant literature on the exploration/exploitation dilemma. Based on a systematic analysis of structural, behavioural, systemic and temporal solutions, the authors are able to show that the learning literature continues to struggle with the question of how exactly an organization can separate exploration and exploitation and at the same time enable necessary knowledge exchange and cooperation between these two notions. Paying closer attention to networks might enable future research to answer this question. In particular, a combination of structural aspects of networks and social ties has the potential to explain how the solutions currently on offer can be implemented successfully, how organizations can combine several of them, and how they can shift between them.     

作为企业竞争优势源泉的网络治理--基本的概念分析框架和研究假设

本文以新经济形态下的网络组织交易模式--网络治理为研究对象,试图回答网络治理之所以成为企业竞争优势源泉的原因.为此,本文在新制度经济学交易成本思想的分析背景中,在治理结构连续体的基础上,将网络治理对应于这种分析背景中的混合治理模型展开分析.然后,根据经济学和管理学中已有的治理和战略、价值贡献要素以及竞争优势的规范逻辑关系,得到网络治理和竞争优势的关系.最后,本文应用资源基础论中一个关于企业战略选择价值分析的VRIO模型,尝试解析网络治理作为企业竞争优势源泉的原因,并为此提供了一个基本的概念分析框架和相应的研究假设.     

Where business networks and institutions meet: Internationalization decision-making under uncertainty

Both business networks and institutional forces are relevant to firm internationalization but they have seldom been studied together. We investigate under what circumstances firms are more likely to adopt non-predictive strategy in light of the influence of the business networks, the institutional forces, and the home market background affecting their internationalization. Based on survey data from 758 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Brazil, China, Poland, Italy, and Sweden, our results support the effects of formal institutional distance and cultural differences on the use of non-predictive strategies by SMEs in internationalization decisions, as well as the contingency effects of business network stability and of having an emerging market background. We integrate research on the liability of foreignness and the liability of outsidership and find that business network stability is critical. It does not moderate the relation between cultural difference and NPS adoption but attenuates the negative relation between institutional distance and NPS adoption, indicating that the liabilities of foreignness and outsidership play different roles in internationalization.