Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 16: Networks In and Around Organizations. - Review - book review

Administrative Science Quarterly,  March, 2001  by Shin-Kap Han

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Steven B. Andrews and David Knoke, eds. Stamford, CT: JAI Press, 1999. 287 pp. $78.50.

Research annuals of this kind occupy a precarious niche. Besides trying to overcome the usual difficulties involved in editing a collected volume, they aim to provide readers with a broad and critical survey of the field, taking stock of recent developments and presenting the state of the art. They should also put forth a research agenda for the future, which, in theory, ought to emerge readily from the former. Overall, Andrews and Knoke successfully manage this tension in the special volume, Networks In and Around Organizations. By delineating the up-to-date front line, the volume serves well those who are new to network analysis in organizational sociology, as well as those who are familiar with it.

Andrews and Knoke play their editorial hand lightly. The only visible trace of it is in grouping the essays into four parts, which are given wonderfully pithy titles: "1. Bringing in Time: Dynamics of Network Structure"; "2. Conceptualizing Organizations and Environments"; "3. Networks and Organizational Performance"; and "4. Identities and Meanings in Networks." The minimalist strategy seems to have worked out quite well, effectively organizing the entire volume. This, in part, is due to the high degree of consensus across the essays with regard to where the field stands and where it is to go.

In part 1, both Carley and Ebers propose conceptual frameworks in which the dynamics of network structures are explicitly addressed. Learning plays a pivotal role, which is also emphasized by the others in the volume. Carley, in particular, forcefully presses her argument, calling for a "unified theory of social and organizational behavior" based on sociocognitive mechanics. She sets it up with a set of precepts that are packed with fresh, if not revolutionary ideas. Carley urges us to question anew the usual assumptions, starting, for example, with the very notion of agency.

Part 2 contains three chapters that extend network analysis by engaging the theoretical arguments developed in other fields. In Doreian and Woodard's study of social service agencies, the concepts of "institutional isomorphism" and "organizational fields," the key concepts in institutional theory, are redefined in relational terms. This allows them not only to treat the concepts more rigorously but also to gain a new insight into the institutional processes. Knoke and JanowiecKurle focus on the "make or buy" question with regard to employee skills. In all, seven different theoretical perspectives on labor processes in work organizations are examined. Uzzi and Gillespie tackle one of the central concerns in the financial theory of the firm, the capital structure problem. Shifting the focus from the question of the type of capital to the question of who is seeking the financing and from whom the financing is being sought, they reframe it as an embed-dedness problem and show how social structure plays a role in the puzzle. These boundary-spanning efforts are highly productive, and more will surely follow along this path.

The three essays in part 3 deal with the effects and consequences of network structure and network position, which is presently the most active area of research. Yet each of them advances the argument a step further, opening up new frontiers. In their study of the biotechnology industry, Powell, Koput, Smith-Doerr, and Owen-Smith show the network effects on organizational performance. They also show that the network structure shapes and co-evolves with the industry, its technology, and its institutions. Stuart and Podolny's chapter closely echoes that argument, although their formulation is more direct. They use patents and patent citations in the semiconductor industry to construct a technological network in which a technical area is represented as a genealogy of temporally and technologically interconnected inventions. Krackhardt brings Simmel's analysis of triads to bear on Burt's (1992) structural holes argument, shedding light on its contingent nature. When the holes are embedded in cohesive cliques, he argues, the normative power of groups constrains actors. In all three, and also in the three chapters in part 2, the concept of embeddedness--or, as Carley puts it, "network ecology"--is the key element in the analytical impetus.

Finally, the three chapters in part 4 deal with the structural basis of identities and meanings. Andrews, Basler, and Coller try to establish a link between organizational culture and (informal) organizational structure, focusing on the interactions between them and their joint effects. Galaskiewicz and Zaheer engage the strategic management literature, redefining competitive advantage in network (social capital) terms. They explore conditions--"network modalities"--under which interfirm networks enhance competitive advantage. The last chapter, by Popielarz, focuses on the organizational membership dynamics and organizational overlaps that constitute the "opportunity structure" of tie formation. She shows that organizations operate as structural constraints on personal networks and also addresses the implications for stratification and organizational change. This is an area to be explored further, using as guideposts what is outlined by the propositions presented here.