Dense Ties Research Articles

Building higher value-added firm practices in challenging contexts: Formal networks and talent management in Turkey

Where do high-impact human resources management practices thrive, and how do they make a difference in environments with limited institutional support? This study delves into the realm of talent management (TM) in Turkey, where institutional coverage is incomplete and unstable. Drawing on survey data, we explore the conditions under which TM succeeds, supplementing previous research on internal networks by examining the impact of external networks that encompass the entire firm. We find that when firms have closer ties with customers, suppliers and competitors (and hence, the basis for formal network tie building), TM is more prevalent and more likely to be successful. While conventional wisdom in comparative institutional literature suggests that such dense ties might be less effective in emerging markets owing to the absence of advanced complementarities found in mature economies, our study challenges these assumptions. In the eyes of managers, TM is not merely a tool to overcome disadvantages; it is perceived as a source of opportunities. This prompts a critical question: what specific advantages does the emerging economy system confer on firms embracing TM? Our study seeks to unravel these dynamics and contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between institutional contexts and TM.

The hidden strength of small business: Social networks and wet market vendors in China

AbstractThroughout contemporary China, consumers have the option of purchasing food products from “traditional” Chinese wet markets or “modern” supermarket chains. Wet market vendors are economically disadvantaged as the operators of small‐scale businesses with limited investment and high labor costs. Nevertheless, wet market vendors continue to thrive in urban China, despite the continued expansion of supermarket chains. This article combines ethnographic data and social network analysis to examine how social networks provide wet market vendors with some important competitive advantages. The article draws on fourteen months of fieldwork in Sanya City, China, and provides an analysis of the composition, structure, and strength of the network ties of 113 wet market vendors. Vendors tend to have strong and dense ties to individuals who help them establish their businesses. Vendors also rely on strong ties with regular suppliers to help them reduce costs and ensure a regular supply of goods. These strong ties are balanced by weaker ties with a diverse range of customers, including small businesses and household consumers. A combination of both strong and weak network ties contributes to the collective resilience of wet market vendors, allowing them to confront crises, reduce risk and uncertainty, and improve performance.

How do knowledge spillover and access in supply chain network enhance SMEs’ credit quality?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how knowledge spillover and access in a supply chain network enhance the credit quality in supply chain finance (SCF) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on network theory and a knowledge-based view (KBV) of SCF, this paper proposes a theoretical model and tests it using survey data from a sample of 248 SMEs in China.FindingsThe main finding is that both strong ties and dense ties within a supply chain network have positive effects on SMEs’ credit quality, and these effects are mediated by knowledge spillover and knowledge access. Interestingly, knowledge spillover is found to have a positive effect on knowledge access.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to investigate the relationship between supply chain network and supply chain financing from a KBV. The proposed model captures the complexity in the interaction among different attributes of supply chain networks (i.e. strong ties and dense ties), different aspects of knowledge transfer (i.e. knowledge spillover and knowledge access) and SMEs’ credit quality in SCF. The results not only show the importance of SMEs’ supply chain networks to SMEs’ credit quality but also contribute to the understanding of the KBV in SCF.

Is Partnership Intensity or Density More Effective?

Current scholarship identifies benefits to both quality of partnerships and extensiveness of networks when managing shared policy goals. However, with limited collaborative capacity, many public service organizations are faced with a decision of whether to pursue intense connections with specific organizations or dense ties with an array of organizations. From using survey data from 72 local air agencies, findings indicate that intense partnerships are better predictors of improved air quality than dense ties. Conclusions suggest that building strong partnerships is more important than building many partnerships when pursuing shared policy goals in a multidimensional environment.

Exploring Patterns of Social Relationships among Food Bloggers on Twitter Using a Social Network Analysis Approach

Abstract Background and objective . Nutrition information conveyed by popular entities through online social networking sites (i.e., social media influencers) has the potential to impact consumer eating behavior through mechanisms of social influence. Little is known about how online communities of food-related social media influencers are structured, which could reveal influencers’ opportunities to observe and spread nutrition-related content and information design practices. This study explored patterns of social relationships (social capital, conservation of resources, and homophily) within a network of prominent food bloggers on Twitter (N = 44). Methods . Data on Twitter following/follower relationships and Twitter use (number of tweets, favorited tweets) were collected from bloggers’ Twitter profiles. Bloggers represented eight topical subcategories of food blogs (e.g., family cooking, cocktails) and comprised a one-mode social network with directed ties indicating Twitter following/follower relationships. Structural evidence of patterns of social relationships was investigated through social network visualization, centrality measures (in-degree/out-degree centrality, density, reciprocity), and inferential tests. Results . The overall network density of directed ties was 21%, with wide variability in individual blogger centrality across multiple measures. Cocktails, cooking, special diets, and culinary travel bloggers had more dense ties to bloggers in their own subcategories. Within the network, favorited tweets and outreach (Twitter following relationships) were positively associated with popularity (Twitter follower relationships). Conclusions . Food bloggers in this study formed a partially connected network, supporting the conservation of resources framework. Homophily was evident in some, but not all, topical subcategories. Associations among Twitter use, outreach, and popularity generally supported the social capital framework. Future studies should explore influencers’ motivations for connecting on social networking sites, and how content and information design practices spread among influencers.

Entrepreneurial pursuits in the Caribbean diaspora: networks and their mixed effects

ABSTRACTDomestic Caribbean entrepreneurs are embedded in their home-society. Diasporic entrepreneurs have a dual embeddedness in home-society and in host-society, with networks spanning both societies, which may give them comparative advantages in innovation, exporting and growth. Enterprising is traditionally a livelihood in the Caribbean, which is carried into the diaspora and sustained by dense ties between host- and home-societies. The empirical contribution is a three-way comparison between the Caribbean diaspora, the domestic Caribbeans and diasporans from other world regions. It uses a representative sample of adults living in, or originating from, the Caribbean. Diasporans are found to often become entrepreneurs by a pull of opportunity, whereas domestics are more likely to experience a push of necessity. Diasporans, more than domestics, are networking in the transnational sphere and in the sphere of business operations. This networking promotes outcomes such as innovation, exporting and growth expectations, in contrast to negative effects from networking in the private sphere. Policies may enhance benefits of diasporic entrepreneurship for Caribbean society.

Shaping the social architecture of a start-up: What raises the social multiplier?

What should a CEO do to increase the social multiplier of a startup? What organizational strategy, in other words, should a manager adopt to shape informal social interactions among employees, so that they perform better in the office than if they telecommuted? We develop a network-based model that contrasts two opposing approaches. The first, consistent with Coleman’s vision of social capital, is embedding. Using an embedding strategy, the CEO fosters strong and dense ties among employees, and thus seeks to raise productivity by facilitating knowledge spillovers and creating social pressure. The second, keeping with White’s theory of social control, is decoupling. Using a decoupling strategy, the CEO promotes weak and sparse connections among employees, and so tries to increase productivity by minimizing distraction. Our findings indicate that, while embedding is generally preferable to decoupling for most kinds of organizations, decoupling is clearly preferable when two conditions are jointly met: the organization’s distribution of human capital is left-skewed and it is populated more by “slackers,” who “look down” in order to self-enhance, than by “climbers” who “look up” to self-improve. Our results also suggest that the zone of network irrelevance–that is, the space of possibilities over which the CEO’s efforts to rewire the network will prove inconsequential–paradoxically contracts as the firm grows: counter to a prevailing picture of small firms as inherently malleable, our model suggests that a CEO achieves less through shaping informal social interactions when the organization is not yet at scale. Implications for future research on networks and organizations are discussed.

Hearthholds of mobile money in western Kenya

AbstractKenyans use mobile money services to transfer money to friends and relatives via mobile phone text messaging. Kenya's M‐Pesa is one of the most successful examples of digital money for financial inclusion. This article uses social network analysis and ethnographic information to examine ties to and through women in 12 mobile money transfer networks of kin, drawn from field data collected in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The social networks are based on reciprocal and dense ties among siblings and parents, especially mothers. Men participate equally in social networks, but as brothers and mother's brothers more often than as fathers. The matrilineal ties of mobile money circulate value within the hearthhold (Ekejiuba 2005) of women, their children, and others connected to them. Using remittances, families negotiate investments in household farming or work, education, and migration. Money sending supports the diverse economic strategies, flexible kinship ties, and mobility of hearthholds. Gifts of e‐money are said to express a natural love and caring among mothers and siblings and are often private and personal. Consequently, the money circulations of the hearthhold avoid disrupting widely shared ideals of patrilineal solidarity and household autonomy.

Is Social Capital the Capital of the Poor? The Role of Family and Community in Helping Insure Living Standards against Health Shocks

We estimate the effect of social capital on the ability of households to insure consumption after unexpected negative shocks. Many theoretical models argue that strong ties to extended family members and to one's community help protect families when an adult becomes ill or disabled. Using household-level longitudinal data on Indonesian families, we test whether consumption declines less after a negative health shock for those with many ties to their community and for those in a community with dense ties. We take advantage of a particularly rich set of measures of social capital including measures of civic participation; the existence of traditions of mutual cooperation; long-term relationships in the community and ethnic and linguistic diversity. We also examine the role of a large and prosperous extended family. We find little support for the hypothesis that social capital is the capital of the poor. (JEL classification: D12, D13, G21, G22, O16)

Structural Holes and Structural Synergies: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of State-Society Relations and Development in Colonial Sierra Leone and Mauritius

Drawing on network theory from economic sociology, this article argues that development through state-society synergy requires the spread of information and resources between state and society. After describing key concepts and a nested methodological approach, the article analyzes how the different network structures affected the success of state decentralizing reforms in two former British colonies after World War II: Sierra Leone and Mauritius. It finds that the use of gatekeeping intermediaries in indirectly ruled Sierra Leone caused structural holes between state and society and that the reforms therefore increased the extent of decentralized despotism. Alternatively, direct colonial rule in Mauritius promoted dense ties between state and societal actors, and the colonial state reforms therefore made decentralized development possible.

The Nation-State and the Natural Environment over the Twentieth Century

National activities to protect the natural environment are on the rise. Conventional explanations of the phenomenon emphasize domestic processes, set in motion by environmental degradation and economic affluence. We propose instead a top-down causal imagery that hinges on a global redefinition of the to include environmental protection as a basic state responsibility. We test our view using event-history analyses offive indicators of environmentalization: the proliferation of (]) national parks, (2) chapters of international environmental associations, (3) memberships in intergovernmental environmental organizations, (4) environmental impact assessment laws, and (5) environmental ministries in countries around the world over the twentieth century. For allfive measures, the top-down global explanation proves stronger than the bottom-up domestic alternative: The global institutionalization of the principle that nation-states bear responsibility for environmental protection drives national activities to protect the environment. This is especially true in countries with dense ties to world society and prolific receptor sites, even when controlling for domestic degradation and affluence. It appears that blueprints of nation-state environmentalization, which themselves become more universalistic over time, are drawn in world society before being diffused to and enacted by individual countries.

The Nation-State and the Natural Environment over the Twentieth Century

National activities to protect the natural environment are on the rise. Conventional explanations of the phenomenon emphasize domestic processes, set in motion by environmental degradation and economic affluence. We propose instead a top-down causal imagery that hinges on a global redefinition of the “nation-state” to include environmental protection as a basic state responsibility. We test our view using event-history analyses of five indicators of environmentalization: the proliferation of(1) national parks, (2) chapters of international environmental associations, (3) memberships in intergovernmental environmental organizations, (4) environmental impact assessment laws, and (5) environmental ministries in countries around the world over the twentieth century. For all five measures, the top-down global explanation proves stronger than the bottom-up domestic alternative: The global institutionalization of the principle that nation-states bear responsibility for environmental protection drives national activities to protect the environment. This is especially true in countries with dense ties to world society and prolific “receptor sites,” even when controlling for domestic degradation and affluence. It appears that blueprints of nation-state environmentalization, which themselves become more universalistic over time, are drawn in world society before being diffused to and enacted by individual countries.

A Galileo Analysis of Organizational Climate

This article attempts to (a) establish a conceptual framework for climate research, (b) develop a research scheme based on this conceptual ground, and (c) examine the relationship between communication and the convergence of views regarding organizational climate. University faculty members comprise the sample for this study (N = 105). Using the Galileo multidimensional scaling model, a description of the faculty climate at a university is presented, as well as comparisons between the climates of groups of faculty. There is a substantial correlation between a person's attitude and his or her perception of the relation of others toward those same concepts. Faculty members who communicate more with their colleagues report less psychological distance between themselves and the university. In addition, an individual's climate space becomes more similar to the space of the group with whom he or she maintains denser communication ties as compared with the space of the group with whom he or she maintains less dense ties.