Andrew V. Shipilov

The Prince and the Pauper: Search and Brokerage in the Initiation of Status-Heterophilous Ties

We combine structural hole theory with performance feedback theory to identify determinants of partner selection in networks. Specifically, we examine how a brokerage position coupled with aspiration--performance gaps affects an organizations propensity to initiate ties to partners of different status. We find that organizations in brokerage positions are more likely than nonbrokers to initiate such ties systematically. However, when the performance of an organization in a brokerage position deviates from its aspirations, the organization changes its partner selection strategy and starts initiating ties to partners of similar status. Our results also suggest that organizations in brokerage positions set social and historical aspiration levels differently from nonbrokers, levels that in turn affect decisions about partner selection.

When Do Networks Matter? A Study of Tie Formation and Decay

Interorganizational partner selection decisions are plagued with uncertainty. When making partnering decisions, firms strive to answer two questions: does the prospective partner have resources which can be used to generate value in the relationship; and will the partner be willing to actively share these resources and cooperate in good faith? Answers to these questions help reduce three types of uncertainty – partner capability uncertainty, partner competitiveness uncertainty and partner reliability uncertainty. For a relationship to benefit both partners, they have to possess complimentary resources of comparable quality, avoid explicit competition as well as be willing to engage in the cooperative behaviors within the confines of their relationship. In this paper, we examine the importance of prospective partners’ characteristics (differences in size, status and specialization) as well as their network characteristics (existence of a common partner and membership in the same clique) to the formation and longevity of their social relationships, as these characteristics reduce firms’ value generation and partner reliability uncertainty.

Should you bank on your network? Relational and positional embeddedness in the making of financial capital

This study explores the mechanisms through which relational embeddedness affects the performance of banks in syndication networks formed in the Canadian investment banking industry. I argue that banks have a choice between building embedded network ties that are overlaid with social context and arm’s-length ties that facilitate individual competition. Contrary to the arguments advanced in previous studies, I propose that maintaining a mix of arm’s-length and embedded relationships represents a disadvantageous network strategy. Such strategy not only simultaneously exposes investment banks to competition from their peers, relying primarily upon embedded or arm’s-length ties, but also sends confusing signals about banks’ networking behavior. I also propose that the link between relational embeddedness and performance is moderated by banks’ positional embeddedness, reflected in their status, and find that banks of higher status extract greater benefits from maintaining embedded ties, as compared with banks of lower status.

Network-building behavioral tendencies, range, and promotion speed

Abstract We studied 459 Ukrainian civil servants to determine how career network-building behavioral tendencies relate to network range and promotion speed. We identify two main behavioral tendencies for initiating social relationships: (a) networking within formal structured groups organized around activities created specifically to encourage members to form personal bonds (structured foci) and (b) individually driven networking outside these structured foci. The study shows that individually driven networking is related to broader network range, while structured foci networking has an inverted-U relationship to network range. The optimal networking for range involves a moderate level of structural foci networking and high levels of individually driven networking. Broad network range is related to faster promotion speed to higher organizational levels. Extroverts have a tendency toward individually driven networking, while high Machiavellians have a tendency toward both individually driven and structured foci networking.

Toward a Strategic Multiplexity Perspective on Interfirm Networks

Abstract Organizations are embedded in multiple interdependent networks comprising different types of relationships, which are managed by different functional units inside each organization. We define tie transfer across networks as the influence of relationships in one network on relationships in another. We argue that the probability of tie transfer will depend on the differences in context in which relationships are formed in two networks, on the past dynamics of relationships in a network into which the tie transfer takes place and on the relative salience of different networks. Our paper develops these conjectures into a relational multiplexity perspective.

Institutional Pressures and Business Goals: A Comparative Study of American and Hungarian Managers

ABSTRACT Neo-institutional theory suggests that companies and managers are affected by three major pressures-coercive, mimetic and normative, which results in the isomorphism of economic actors subjected to similar institutional environments. In this paper we attempt to uncover corresponding dimensions underlying the business goals of managers working in developed and transition economies. We find empirical support for the coercive and normative dimensions and demonstrate that, despite substantial progress made by transition economies towards the establishment of market institutions, managers in transition and developed economies still exhibit unique differences in business goals.

Brokerage as a Public Good: The Externalities of Network Hubs for Different Formal Roles in Creative Organizations:

Although much is known about how brokerage positions in social networks help individuals improve their own performance, we know little about the impact of brokers on those around them. Our study investigates brokerage as a public good. We focus on the positive and negative externalities of specific kinds of brokers: “hubs,” who act as the main interfaces between members of their own network community (“network neighbors”) and members of other communities. Because hubs access diverse knowledge and perspectives, they create positive externalities by providing novel ideas to their network neighbors. But hubs also generate negative externalities: extensive cross-community activity puts heavy demands on their attention and time, so that hubs may not provide strong commitment to their neighbors’ projects. Because of this, network neighbors experience different externalities from hubs depending on their own formal role in projects. We use insights from our fieldwork in the French television game show industry to illustrate the mechanisms at play, and we test our theory with archival data on this industry from 1995 to 2012. Results suggest that the positive externalities of hubs help their neighbors contribute to the success of projects when these neighbors hold creativity-focused roles; yet the negative externalities of hubs hinder their neighbors’ contributions when they hold efficiency-focused roles.

Contested Institutional Change: External goals versus internal performance feedback

Institutional entrepreneurs often facilitate the spread of desired practices by advocating new performance goals for organizations, yet little is known about how organizations respond to these goals—especially when the institutional logic underlying the goals is contested. We combine insights from institutional logics and the behavioral theory of the firm to develop a model that addresses how organizations react to such contested goals and also to noncontested profitability goals. We show that Canadian firms either adopted or resisted practices consistent with the logic of board reform as a function of gaps between firms’ aspirations and performance. These outcomes are evaluated in terms of profitability and of a corporate governance performance score devised by institutional entrepreneurs. We also demonstrate that a firm sets its aspiration level differently depending on the type of performance goal to which it is responding.

A MATCHING THEORY OF EMBEDDED INTERFIRM TIE FORMATION

We combine embeddedness and matching perspectives on interfirm relationships to understand how firms’ relational, structural and positional embeddedness shape their propensity to initiate ties, rec...