The Effects of Multiplex Social Ties on the Costs of Inter-Firm Resource Acquisition

Abstract

Researchers have widely evidenced the value of inter-organizational multiplex ties. However, multiplex ties are costly to form and maintain. While well-endowed firms may be able to incur costs, under-resourced organizations may not. Consequently, the same organizations that would most benefit from inter-firm multiplex ties face the relatively steepest costs. Given a rich-get-richer effect, what can under- resourced organizations do? In this paper, I focus on the costs of multiplex ties in one type of persistently under-resourced organization: low-income primary schools. I conduct a multi-methods study involving both interview (N = 52) and survey (N = 559) data on network ties between nine schools and their external partners. From the qualitative study, I theorize a distinction between social multiplexity and resource multiplexity important for understanding the cost of multiplex ties. I hypothesize greater resource multiplexity is associated with greater costs of resource acquisition, but greater social multiplexity lessens this effect. Specifically, I draw on the qualitative data to theorize three mechanisms through which social multiplexity lessens costs of multiplex resource ties: (1) resource sharing coordination, (2) resource awareness, and (3) resource acquisition completeness. Using the survey data, I find quantitative support for my hypotheses. The result is an emerging theory of multiplex resource acquisition, which reframes costs of external ties as a function of the interaction between resource and social multiplexity. The study has implications for research on resource flow in social networks, organizational embeddedness, and under-resourced organizations.