Modeling and Analysis of Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer Considering Reputation Mechanisms

Transferring a quantity of credible knowledge is a key sustainable competitive advantage for multi-agent cooperation in an interorganizational network (ION). This study presents simulation research to identify the impacts of reputation mechanisms in interorganizational knowledge transfer through systematic evolutionary game theory, addressing the sustainability of knowledge transfer behaviors in innovation, R&D, and low green carbon. The simulation results showed that an agent’s reputation provides information about having valuable knowledge, which can reduce some of the opportunistic behaviors of knowledge transfer faced by knowledge agents. Regardless of its form, we found that reputation distribution significantly promotes interorganizational knowledge transfer behaviors. In addition, higher reputation thresholds and more significant differences in the impact of high and low reputations prominently contribute to knowledge transfer efficiency and effectiveness. The relationship between reputation mechanisms and the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge transfer is examined. This study sheds light on the sustainable management of interorganizational projects from reputation mechanisms.

Modular Interorganizational Network Governance: A Conceptual Framework for Addressing Complex Social Problems

We develop a conceptual governance framework to guide creating and managing a modular interorganizational network to address complex social problems. Drawing on theoretical foundations in modularity and interorganizational networks, we propose that modularizing complex social problems is a dialectic, emergent process that blends a convener-led network formation with a consultative problem definition and solution design. We also posit that social systems are imperfectly modular and need purposefully designed interface governance to integrate the modules. Finally, we advance how leveraging modularity may simultaneously advance the interests of participating actors and deliver societal value. Together, the propositions advance a governance framework for a modular, multi-actor adaptive system suited to tackle the scale, diversity, and dynamics of complex social problems.

Resilience in interorganizational networks: dealing with day-to-day disruptions in critical infrastructures

Purpose Critical infrastructures (CIs) for essential services such as water supply and electricity delivery are notoriously vulnerable to disruptions. While extant literature offers important insights into the resilience of CIs following large-scale disasters, our understanding of CI resilience to the more typical disruptions that affect CIs on a day-to-day basis remains limited. The present study investigates how the interorganizational (supply) network that uses and manages the CI can mitigate the adverse consequences of day-to-day disruptions. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal archival data on 277 day-to-day disruptions within the Dutch national railway CI were collected and analyzed using generalized estimating equations. Findings The empirical results largely support the study’s predictions that day-to-day disruptions have greater adverse effects if they co-occur or are relatively unprecedented. The findings further show that the involved interorganizational network can enhance CI resilience to these disruptions, in particular, by increasing the overall level of cross-boundary information exchange between organizations inside the network. Practical implications This study helps managers to make well-informed choices regarding the target and intensity of their cross-boundary information-exchange efforts when dealing with day-to-day disruptions affecting their CI. The findings illustrate the importance of targeting cross-boundary information exchange at the complete interorganizational network responsible for the CI and to increase the intensity of such efforts when CI disruptions co-occur and/or are unprecedented. Originality/value This study contributes to our academic understanding of how network-level processes (i.e. cross-boundary information exchange) can be managed to ensure interorganizational (supply) networks’ resilience to day-to-day disruptions in a CI context. Subsequent research may draw from the conceptual framework advanced in the present study for examining additional supply network-level processes that can influence the effectiveness of entire supply networks. As such, the present research may assist scholars to move beyond a simple dyadic context and toward examining complete supply networks

Ecological Influences on the Formation of the Hiring Network in the Communication Job Market, 2015 to 2019

This study investigates ecological factors that drive hiring decisions in the academic marketplace. Faculty hires between institutions are conceptualized as interorganizational network ties. Drawing on theoretical insights from network inertia and niche processes in organizational ecology, the current study builds an ecological framework to explain the formation mechanisms of the faculty hiring network among 81 U.S. institutions granting PhDs in communication. Consistent with the predictions of the ecological model of hiring decisions, the empirical results of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) revealed that past behavior (or the presence of previous ties), niche width (or the number of research specializations), and niche overlap (or the degree of shared research specializations) significantly constrained the likelihood of tie creation during the 2015 to 2019 period. These effects held true even when traditional explanations such as network self-organization and status-based hiring patterns were taken into account. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Beyond the crisis: trust repair in an interorganizational network

This article extends understanding of trust repair by explaining in more detail the dynamics of trust at the network-level. Building on organizational-level trust repair research, the article explains how two periods of trust repair – catharsis and catalysis – contribute to trust repair of an interorganizational network. In addition, the article describes how changes to network-level trust in an interorganizational network changes the governance form of the network making the interorganizational network more durable and stable.

Interorganizational Network Change

This chapter examines current theorizing and research on interorganizational network change, and considers its antecedents, processes, outcomes, and management. We perform a systematic review of this literature across several disciplines, including communication, management, organization studies, public administration, and technology studies. Combining the frameworks laid out by Kilduff and Tsai (2003) and Van de Ven and Poole (1995), we demonstrate that the process of goal-directed and serendipitous network change operates using different mechanisms. We highlight the dominant theories and research trends for both types of networks, then we conclude the chapter with a critique and offer four prescriptions for future research.

Enron and the California Energy Crisis: The Role of Networks in Enabling Organizational Corruption

We provide an analytically structured history of Enron's involvement in the California energy crisis, exploring its emergence as a corrupt organization and its use of an interorganizational network to manipulate California's energy supply markets. We use this history to introduce the concept of network-enabled corruption, showing how corruption, even if primarily enacted by a single dominant organization, is often highly dependent on the support of other organizations. Specifically, we show how Enron combined resources from partner firms with its own capabilities, manipulating the energy market and capitalizing on the crisis. From a methodological point of view, our study emphasizes the growing importance of digital sources for historical research, drawing particularly on telephone and email records from the period to develop a rich, fly-on-the-wall understanding of a phenomenon that is otherwise hard to observe.

Utilizing Partnerships to Identify Community Needs and Analyze Network Collaboration in Public Health

Objective: LinkedUp is a multi-sector partnership focused on linking older teens (ages 17-19) to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services at school-based health centers (SBHCs) in Mississippi. The purpose of this study was to examine key partnerships in LinkedUp development, focusing on community needs that initiated the formation of the partnership, and patterns of collaboration among these partners. Methods: In 2018, researchers conducted interviews (N = 3) and focus groups (N = 9) with Mississippi school administrators and high school and college students. In 2019, evaluators examined collaboration between these community partners (N = 6) using an interorganizational network analysis survey. Results: Thematic analyses of qualitative data indicated a need to commit to linking older teens to SRH services by increasing communication/ planning among community stakeholders. Network analysis scores included an average network density of 1, strength of tie of 3.04, and degree centrality of 4.6 (SD = 1.4) for partners. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate how community stakeholders inform the development of a public health program as critical partners during both needs assessment and program development phases. This information can be used by practitioners and policymakers interested in addressing complex, community-level health issues.