Paola Zappa

The Analysis of Multilevel Networks in Organizations: Models and Empirical Tests

Studies of social networks in organizations confront analytical challenges posed by the multilevel effects of hierarchical relations between organizational subunits on the presence or absence of informal network relations among organizational members. Conventional multilevel models may be usefully adopted to control for generic forms of non-independence between tie variables defined at multiple levels of analysis. Such models, however, are unable to identify the specific multilevel dependence mechanisms generating the observed network data. This is the basic difference between multilevel analysis of networks and the analysis of multilevel networks. The aim of this article is to show how recently derived multilevel exponential random graph models (MERGMs) may be specified and estimated to address the problems posed by the analysis of multilevel networks in organizations. We illustrate our methodological proposal using data on hierarchical subordination and informal communication relations between top managers in a multiunit industrial group. We discuss the implications of our results in the broader context of current theories of organizations as connected multilevel systems.

Organizational learning across multi-level networks

Abstract This paper examines organizational learning through a multilevel network lens. We assess how interpersonal knowledge transfer is sustained by the organizational structure of interunit work-flow ties and by the level of specialism of the connected units. To do this, we apply Multilevel Exponential Random Graph Models on data collected in a multiunit government institution in Italy. Results indicate that our approach allows simplifying and better understanding of organizational learning. Units are more likely to retain knowledge transfer ties within their boundaries. Unit boundary-spanning tends to occur only when knowledge transfer ties are sustained by hierarchical interunit work-flow ties.

Structural distortions in the Euro interbank market: The role of ‘key players’ during the recent market turmoil

We study the frictions in the patterns of trades in the Euro money market. We characterize the structure of lending relations during the period of recent financial turmoil. We use network-topology method on data from overnight transactions in the Electronic Market for Interbank Deposits (e-Mid) to investigate on two main issues. First, we characterize the division of roles between borrowers and lenders in long-run relations by providing evidence on network formation at a yearly frequency. Second, we identify the ‘key players’ in the marketplace and study their behaviour. Key players are ‘locally-central banks’ within a network that lend (or borrow) large volumes to (from) several counterparties, while borrowing (or lending) small volumes from (to) a small number of institutions. Our results are twofold. We show that the aggregate trading patterns in e-Mid are characterized by largely asymmetric relations. This implies a clear division of roles between lenders and borrowers. Second, the key players do not exploit their position of network leaders by imposing opportunistic pricing policies. We find that only a fraction of the networks composed by big players are characterized by interest rates that are statistically different from the average market rate throughout the turmoil period.

Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: A Multilevel Network Analysis

The objective of this paper is to illustrate some of the benefits of understanding formal organizations as multilevel network systems by examining the interdependence between formal and social interaction in organizations. We show how such an approach supports a more informative and contextually richer representation of the interdependences between formal and informal relations in organizations. We document the existence, complexity, and context-dependence of the relationships linking informal networks between lower-level actors (individuals in the case that we will be presenting) to formal networks between higher-level actors (subsidiary units in our case) in organizations. We argue that ignoring the formal relations existing between higher-level units may lead to overestimating the autonomy of social networks from the formal authority structure existing within organizations. Because authority relations cross-cut organizational levels, this issue cannot be fully addressed in studies of social networks within organizations conducted at a single level. We argue that the unique value of the most recent generation of MERGMs is to turn this problem into empirically testable hypotheses. Using field data that we have collected on communication and advice relations among the 47 members of a top management team within an international multiunit industrial group we show how this weakness may be addressed. We exploit the natural multilevel structure of social networks within organizations to specify and estimate MERGMs for different intra-organizational networks (advice and communication). We show that the effects of formal structure on social networks are contingent upon the specific kind of network that is being considered.

The Network Structure of Organizational Vocabularies

Abstract We study organizational vocabularies as complex social structures emerging from the association between organizational participants and words they use to describe and make sense of their experiences at work. Using data that we have collected on the association between managers in a multi-unit international company and words they use to describe their organizational units and the overall company, we examine the relational micro-mechanisms underlying the observed network structure of organizational vocabularies. We find that members of the same subsidiary tend to become more similar in terms of the words they use to describe their units. Members of the same subsidiary, however, do not use the same words to describe the corporate group. Consequently, the structure of organizational vocabularies tends to support consistent local interpretations, but reveals the presence of divergent meanings that organizational participants associate with the superordinate corporate group.

Multilevel Structure of Interorganizational Networks: Theoretical Mechanisms and Empirical Tests

A distinctive feature of formal organizations as social actors is their changeable internal structure. Yet, studies of interorganizational networks typically take internal organizational structure ...

Toward a Multilevel Social Exchange Theory of Advice Relations in Organizations

What motivates organizational members to seek and give advice, contributing to informal knowledge transfer and sharing in organizational settings? To answer this question, extant literature propose...

Knowledge Transfer in Multilevel Networks: Contingent Effect of Organizational and Social Structure

We examine how organizational and social structure jointly influence knowledge transfer and sharing relations across the boundaries of organizational subunits. We specify and estimate models that e...