Social network influences on employee responses to organizational withdrawals

Frank Siedlok,Paul Hibbert,Fiona Whitehurst

doi:10.1108/omj-01-2018-0498

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a more detailed understanding of how embedding in different social networks relates to different types of action that individuals choose in the context of organizational closures, downsizing or relocations. To develop such insights, this paper focuses on three particular types of social networks, namely, intra-organizational; external professional and local community networks. These three types of networks have been frequently related to different types of action in the context of closures and relocations. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper. The authors develop the argument by integrating relevant recent literature on the salience related to embedding in different types of social networks, with a particular focus on responses to organizational closure or relocation. Findings The authors argue that at times of industrial decline and closure: embeddedness in intra-organizational networks can favor collective direct action; embeddedness in professional networks is likely to favor individual direct action and embeddedness in community networks can lead to individual indirect action. The authors then add nuance to the argument by considering a range of complicating factors that can constrain or enable the course (s) of action favored by particular combinations of network influences. Originality/value On a theoretical level, this paper adds to understandings of the role of network embeddedness in influencing individual and collective responses to such disruptive events; and direct or indirect forms of response. On a practical level, the authors contribute to understandings about how the employment landscape may evolve in regions affected by organizational demise, and how policymakers may study with or through network influences to develop more responsible downsizing approaches.

Highlights

Closures, downsizing and relocations are a perennial problem affecting both advanced economies and newly industrialized nations
In this paper, we focus on developing a conceptual understanding of the relationship between the influence of individual embedding within multiple kinds of network, and the different actions individuals take in the context of organizational demise or relocation
To provide a revealing view on the dynamics of social network influence, we focus on a context in which individuals might otherwise be presumed likely to act in their personal economic interest, namely, organizational closures and relocations affecting a workforce

Summary

Introduction

Closures, downsizing and relocations are a perennial problem affecting both advanced economies and newly industrialized nations We have argued that other things being equal, in times of decline and closure, the influence of network embeddedness on work-seeking and creating activities play out in these ways as follows: Embeddedness in intra-organizational networks is likely to favor collective direct action, in the form of management buy-outs or mass resistance; Embeddedness in professional networks is likely to favor individual direct action, which can either mean an exodus of professional staff or, with appropriate support, entrepreneurial dynamism within a region; and Embeddedness in community networks is likely to favor individual indirect action as local interests displace organizational life as a matter of greatest importance, leading to a relatively non-dynamic landscape in the absence of robust policy interventions These insights provide a different contribution to the majority of research in this area, which largely focuses on social network effects on the commitment and mobility of individual employees (Felps et al, 2009; Mitchell et al, 2001; Stam, 2007). The two dimensions help to understand how the range of possible responses is influenced by embedding in particular networks and their relative salience, aspects, which have

Preferred mode of action Indirect

Risks and limitations

Energizing latent