On Network Agency

Abstract

Network agency is a thought-provoking, essential, but still largely untapped topic; it is also a stimulating opportunity for future research. There is growing tension on network agency. Network and agency seem two poles of an apparent oxymoron, but taken together they represent the pulsing core of our understanding of the interplay between individuals and contexts, structure and behavior in organizations. Building on this lively intellectual debate, we believe that the 2020 Academy Meeting is a fertile chance to discuss key questions for future research, stimulated by cutting-edge empirical studies: 1) What is the locus of action? 2) Are individuals, in their idiosyncratic differences, choices and behaviors, in the driving seat? 3) Or do network properties and structures shape the actions and the very identities of the individuals who are members of these networks? Sense of Belonging Predicts Women’s (But Not Men’s) Position in Organizational Friend-Ship Networks Presenter: Raina A. Brands; London Business School Presenter: Aneeta Rattan; London Business School What is Guanxi? Network Governance in China Presenter: Ronald S. Burt; U. Of Chicago Presenter: Sonja Opper; Lund U. Face Memory and Networks Presenter: Daniel Z. Levin; Rutgers U. The Agency of Others Presenter: Stefano Tasselli; Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus U. Presenter: Alberto Caimo; Technological U. Dublin Presenter: Alessandro Lomi; U. of Lugano Presenter: Martin J. Kilduff; UCL School of Management Extraversion, Neuroticism, and the Evolution of Friendship and Conflict Networks Presenter: Evgenia Dolgova; Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus U. Presenter: Ajay Mehra; U. of Kentucky Presenter: Olga Kornienko; George Mason U.