Mark Ebers

Networking Network Studies: An Analysis of Conceptual Configurations in the Study of Inter-organizational Relationships

Given the recent accumulation of research on inter-organizational relations and networks and the current fragmentation of the field, it is time to take stock and explore the achievements of, and future challenges for, this field of study. On the basis of a network analysis of the 158 articles on inter-organizational relations and networks that were published in four leading journals from 1980 to 1996, this paper empirically explores the linkages among, and configurations of, core theories and concepts underlying earlier empirical research on inter-organizational relations and networks. We identify core, as well as peripheral, areas of research interest in the field and point out areas of overlap and consolidation. Moreover, our empirical analysis shows that the field segments into four substantive research perspectives, namely social network, power and control, institutional, and institutional economics and strategy clusters. In sum, we suggest an innovative, empirically grounded approach towards a literature review that aims at a synopsis of a field of study and highlights possibly fruitful avenues for future research.

The Oxford handbook of inter-organizational relations

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION SECTION II: MANIFESTATIONS OF INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONS SECTION III: THEORETICAL AND DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE STUDY OF INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONS SECTION IV: KEY TOPICS IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH SECTION V: CONCLUSION

The Value of Intra-organizational Social Capital: How it Fosters Knowledge Transfer, Innovation Performance, and Growth

While most literature promotes a positive impact of social capital on various organizational performance outcomes, empirical results on the social capital—organizational performance link are not conclusive. We propose that one reason for the discordant findings is that research has largely not accounted for the mediating process steps that translate social capital into organizational performance outcomes. We suggest that organizational performance outcomes of organization members’ social capital hinge on the mediating processes of resource mobilization, assimilation, and use. An empirical study of 218 projects in the German engineering industry supports our theoretical model. Findings show that knowledge transfer (conceptualized as the mobilization, assimilation, and use of knowledge resources) mediates between organization members’ intra-organizational social capital and organizational performance outcomes of growth and innovation performance. The present study thus contributes to a deeper understanding of the value of intra-organizational social capital.

The Variety of Governance Structures Beyond Market and Hierarchy

While research has identified a variety of hybrid governance structures, it has described and sought to explain this variety from different theoretical perspectives that are not readily reconcilable. This limits our ability systematically to compare different types of hybrids and on this basis to further theoretical understanding. Results of an empirical survey of transactions in buyer–supplier relations in the German construction industry provide novel insights into three distinct, widely employed types of hybrid governance structures. The study systematically compares the found hybrid governance structures and explores their rationales. As its main theoretical contribution, this study offers an empirically based typology of hybrid governance structures that complements earlier theorizing. It suggests that embeddedness and transaction cost arguments complement one another in explaining different and previously theoretically unspecified types of hybrid governance structures.

To Continue or not to Continue? Drivers of Recurrent Partnering in Temporary Organizations

While research has provided ample evidence that temporal (dis-)continuity in partnering is highly consequential for the governance and performance outcomes of temporary organizations, we know much less about the conditions that drive the members of temporary organizations to engage in recurrent partnering. Focusing on project organizations, the present research offers theoretical arguments and related empirical evidence that illuminate when and why project-leading organizations expect to continue collaboration with the same project partner in future projects. Specifically, we show that expectations of recurrent collaboration are a function of backward-looking experiential learning and forward-looking opportunity cost assessments. Our findings contribute to better understanding of temporality in temporary organizations by uncovering a set of factors conducive to explaining when and why the same partners engage in temporary sequences of projects.

Die Gestaltung interorganisationaler Informationssysteme — Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer transaktionskostentheoretischen Erklärung

Dieser Beitrag versucht, die institutionelle Gestaltung interorganisationaler Informationssysteme (IOS) mittels transaktionskostentheoretischer Argumente zu erklaren. Er weist dabei auf vier wichtige theoretische Lucken der Transaktionskostentheorie im allgemeinen und bisheriger transaktionskostentheoretischer Analysen von IOS im besonderen hin und versucht, diese zu schliesen. Die Lucken betreffen: 1. die problematische Konzeptualisierung institutioneller Gestaltungsformen von IOS als elektronische Markte und elektronische Hierarchien; 2. die mangelnde Spezifizierung und Operationalisierung der einschlagigen transaktionskostentheoretischen Erklarungsfaktoren; 3. die fehlende Erklarung des Ausmases transaktionsspezifischer Investitionen; und 4. die mangelnde Berucksichtigung von Interdependenzen zwischen Transaktionen. Auf der Basis dieser Erweiterungen der herkommlichen Argumentation stellt der Beitrag eine differenziertere und fundiertere transaktionskostentheoretische Erklarung der institutionellen Gestaltung von IOS zur Diskussion.

Interorganizational Relationships and Networks

Research on interorganizational relationships and networks studies overall properties of relations between and among individuals, groups, or organizations, their antecedents, development processes, and outcomes. Focusing mainly on the organizational level, this article highlights why organizations forge different forms of relationships and what consequences result from the interorganizational links and the positions of organizations within their networks of relationships.

Internal Institutional Contexts, Leadership, and Researchers’ Entrepreneurial Intentions

Drawing on institutional theory and applying a multi-level approach, the present research extends earlier studies seeking to explain academic entrepreneurship. Based on data from 254 researchers ne...