External Ties Research Articles

From Individual to Group: Sharing Social Capital Across Levels in Organizations

We know little about how and when social capital is shared from individuals to their teams and how this sharing might facilitate team innovative performance. This paper offers three important contributions. First, I argue that individuals’ willingness to share their external ties with their teammates is not automatic. Secondly, I propose that individuals with greater levels of team-related relational and cognitive social capital, tertius iungens orientation, and team member interdependence are more likely to share their ties with their team. Finally, I examine the interactive role of external and internal team ties in promoting team innovative performance.

The Role of Farmers’ Social Networks in Adopting Climate Smart Agriculture: Case of Horticultural Farmers in Nyeri County, Kenya

This paper aimed at depicting how farmers use their informal networks to share information on climate smart agriculture especially on conservation agriculture. The study used social network analysis (SNA) in UCINET to depict the pattern of information sharing on conservation agriculture among individual farmers and farmers groups. The study identified the structural importance of various actors in the farmers’ social networks.Power and centrality measures of various farmers were identified. Values for ego betweenness, coordinator and gatekeeper brokerage roles were normalized so that differences in network sizes were accounted for. The study identified several farmers who were identified to be critical in information sharing among horticultural farmers in Nyeri County. Farmers’social networks were found to play a pivotal role in the dissemination of information with key farmers identified as central actors in the network.Social network theory examines social structure from the perspective that relationships between two parties or more are partly influenced by the external ties possessed by each other with the degree of influence varying among the actors. This research demonstrates the need for agricultural research institutions to identify and liaise with actors with high degree of centrality in the jurisdiction of information and resource dissemination to guarantee maximum adoption of new technologies by the target groups.

Evolving a Value Chain to an Open Innovation Ecosystem: Cognitive Engagement of Stakeholders in Customizing Medical Implants

While open innovation ecosystems allow a firm to harness external sources of value creation, these external ties can also constrain its ability to adapt its innovation strategy to pursue new opportunities. This article looks at how an incumbent firm approached such constraints, and used cognitive artifacts to transform its value chain into a collaborative ecosystem. It examines the case of a 3D printing-enabled shift to mass customization of orthopedic medical implants. The results demonstrate how firms can use artifacts to build a shared understanding across heterogeneous stakeholders as they explore and develop new open innovation models, and how this process can be managed flexibly to avoid adopting a locally (rather than globally) optimal strategy.

Trends of Modern Education Development in the European Educational Space

The article summarizes that the establishment and development of common language educational space of the EU were caused by an aggregated impact of external factors in the form of social, economic, and political processes within European integration as well as by intra-system factors. Both the institutional and legal base and the open method of coordination in the sphere of language education at the EU level create difficult intra-system and external ties, providing the integrity of the educational space. The creation of a common language educational space is based on conceptual frameworks determining the content of educational policy at European and national levels. Modern trends of higher education have been analysed through the multicultural aspect of society. The assumption about the appropriateness of continuous language training of students as the basis to form skills for intercultural communication has also been made. To check the credibility of results achieved during research and development works methods of mathematical statistics have been used. They included non-parametric methods of results comparison, which according to Kyveryalg are the most appropriate while professional analysis of pedagogical phenomena. It is explained by the fact that there is a limited number of quantity indicators obtained as a result of pedagogical studies (four levels of intercultural communication skills) in the science of pedagogy. The results proved the effectiveness of the developed methodology, which is based on the implementation of context-based learning techniques while learning a foreign language (English) by students.

The influence of clustering on HR practices and intrapreneurial behavior

PurposeThis study aims to explore how the fact of belonging to clusters of dissimilar form or characteristics modify the application of human resource management (HRM) practices, as well as those knowledge-sharing processes that guide and encourage the intrapreneurial behavior of employees (IPB) in firms belonging to the cluster. The main thesis is that the application of HRM practices and some knowledge management processes are strongly conditioned by the form or characteristics of the cluster, all this in a knowledge-intensive context that requires a contingent application of such practices.Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy chosen was a qualitative case study, given that the insight the authors were seeking could only be obtained through a fine-grained analysis inside the firm where it is very difficult to decouple the phenomenon to be observed from the context where it takes place. Two cases were selected to analyze the phenomenon in-depth and compare their results; they were big and technologically advanced firms but belonging to clusters of different forms and characteristics.FindingsResults show that the influence of the cluster based on location is greater than the effects of the cluster formed by networks, where globalization and external ties play an important role. HRM practices and knowledge sharing processes that lead to intrapreneurial behavior are conditioned, only in part, by the characteristics of the cluster. Particularly, the geographical cluster encourages knowledge sharing with competitors and customers, mainly for technical training processes and because of belonging to a sectoral association. However, HRM practices, with the exception of training and compensation policies, are mainly conditioned by the company's culture and internal factors, rather than by belonging to a specific cluster.Practical implicationsFirms belonging to an organized cluster should encourage the development of practical training-oriented programs, not only on technical aspects but also on other skill and competence-based areas. In addition, training based on strategic issues both for top and middle managers could be an interesting initiative. Additionally, clustered firms should develop more knowledge-retention policies to limit the degree of rivalry in the sector, as it is very common for a firm to search for new and specialized talent in the rest of competing firms in the cluster.Social implicationsConsidering the economic impact of the geographical cluster, its effect on the employment and development of a region and taking into account the relevant and dynamic role of research institutions and associations, policymakers should support and facilitate the activity of those institutions, reinforcing the relevance of industrial districts or geographical clusters that are threatened by the pressures of globalization.Originality/valueThis study brings new insight into the effect of the form and characteristics of the cluster on HRM practices and knowledge sharing processes that lead to intrapreneurial behavior. The study may open the field for additional studies that, from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, analyze this topic in depth. The paper shows that IPB depends not only on the support of the institutions created in the cluster but also on the culture and competitive strategy of the company. Belonging to a geographical cluster can have an influence on firms’ behavior and can, through the trust generated among its members, facilitate knowledge-sharing processes and intrapreneurial behavior.

Rigid boundaries between Turkey and China: is political mobility possible?

ABSTRACT This article examines the rigid boundaries in relations between China and Turkey by applying social identity theory to international relations. It evaluates different networks of political alliance and external cultural-ethnic ties as rigid boundaries between the two countries. Turkey-China relations have been shaped by both inter-systemic and inter-state dynamics. Therefore, to show how social context and the permeability of social structure have affected the nature of bilateral relations, this article divides relations into two historical contexts of Cold War and post-Cold War periods. It concludes that it will be hard to go beyond rigid boundaries as long as each side has its own solutions to problems between the two countries.

Evolving a Value Chain to an Open Innovation Ecosystem: The Cognitive Influence of Stakeholders in Customizing Medical Implants

While open innovation ecosystems allow firms to harness new external sources of value creation, these external ties can also constrain its ability to adapt its innovation strategy to pursue new opportunities. Here we look at how firms conceive new open innovation models of value creation, and how those efforts are affected by the need to both learn from and educate its external partners. We do so in the context of a potential 3D printing-enabled shift from mass production to mass customization of orthopedic medical implants. Using interviews, observations and archival data from three continents, we document how an incumbent firm approached the economic, regulatory and cognitive constraints on both its existing and future value creation strategy, so as to transform its linear value chain into a more interactive and collaborative ecosystem. We show how the firm used both open innovation and open business models to develop a new value creation logic, and how a delay in freezing this logic allowed it to identify a second, more radical business model shift that it is now pursuing. These results demonstrate how firms and managers can address the cognitive shift needed to develop trans-formative open innovation strategies that require a complex restructuring of a firm’s internal and external stakeholder relationships. In addition to developing a process framework for such changes, we also extend the limited prior research on cognitive strategy in open innovation.

Professional Friendship, Resource Competition, and Collaboration in a Homeless Service Delivery Network

ABSTRACTWhile existing literature on human services interorganizational network has focused on collaboration, networked service providers do compete for the same public and private funding sources. Interorganizational competition for scarce resources could be detrimental to collaboration. Yet organizational leaders’ external professional friendship ties with peers – an understudied type of informal relationship – may mitigate the effects of resource competition. Using data collected from a homeless service delivery network, we investigate such relational dynamics. Quantitative network analysis shows that professional friendship ties facilitate collaboration and moderate the negative impact of competition on collaboration. Both funders and managers need to invest in developing professional friendship networks.

Weaving in the Economic and Cultural Life of the Armenian Colonies of Ukraine: Historical Discourse

Since ancient times, weaving was one of the most important types of folk crafts and a significant component of the economic life on Ukrainian terrains. Different fabric products – rugs, clothes, belts, bedspreads, capes, and scarves – were widely used in everyday life, for the decoration of housing, as luxury goods, and as a monetary equivalent for sales and exchanges. So the relevance of this study is to highlight the role of the Armenians in the development of weaving production on Ukrainian terrains, in the formation of a trading network of various woven goods, as well as to reveal their role in shaping a special style of life and tastes of different layers of the population, the consumption culture of this kind of objects. Weaving played an important role both in the internal life of the Armenian colonies and in the external ties of the Armenians with the Polish-Ukrainian environment. Comprehensive scientific research of the historicaldevelopment of Armenian weaving on the lands of Ukraine, with account of all the components of this process – silkworm, carpet weaving, the trade aspect of weaving, etc., are absent today. It is important that, as in the case of jewelry and arms manufacture, the role of Armenians in the weaving industry was alsodual: they imported all types of woven products, including carpets, into Ukraine, and they were also manufacturers of various woven products not only in the Ukrainian lands but also in the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. The intensive development of silk weaving on Ukrainian terrains, the productionof goods out of local silk and carpet-manufacturing are apparently also associated with the Armenians. Although most researchers associate the development of persiarnias in Ukraine with Stanislaw’s workshopsof Misiorowych and Madzharskyi in the middle of the 18th c., the facts show that the vigorous growth of the persiarnias (the Armenian weaving workshops) began in the 17th c. Article received 29.05.2019

The interplay of external ties and internal knowledge base

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of informal ties and radical innovation in the context of China’s university spin-offs and the moderating roles of knowledge breadth and depth in such relationships.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of literature on informal ties, internal knowledge base and radical innovation provides the theoretical foundation of the research framework and hypotheses. Using a sample of 158 China’s university spin-offs, the authors conduct a regression analysis on the theoretical framework and hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that business and university ties are positively related to radical innovation. Moreover, the effects of business and university ties on radical innovation are contingent on knowledge breadth and depth in opposite ways. In particular, the positive effect of business ties on radical innovation depends significantly on internal knowledge depth rather than on knowledge breadth, and the positive effect of university ties on radical innovation will be affected by internal knowledge breadth rather than knowledge depth.Practical implicationsManagers of university spin-offs must examine informal ties they already have and identify their nature, content and embedded advantages and promptly adjust their strategy of informal ties to adapt to their firms’ internal knowledge base.Originality/valueThis study highlights the positive role of managers’ personal connections with different external parties in facilitating radical innovation and advances the understanding of informal ties by proposing that the effects of informal ties on radical innovation are contingent on a firm’s internal knowledge base in the context of China’s university spin-offs.

Business, society, and the need for stewardship orientation

PurposeOrganizational change involves optimizing a firm’s sustainability performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore how strategic orientations concerning the interface between business and society influence organizations’ sustainability performance. To explain how different strategic orientations – especially stewardship and instrumental orientations – impact sustainability performance, dynamic managerial capability theory is explored.Design/methodology/approachOurs is an inductive, qualitative study based on the template analysis of interviews conducted among sustainability managers from stock-listed multinational corporations headquartered in the Eurozone.FindingsCorporations with a stewardship orientation develop different dynamic managerial capabilities underlying sustainability performance than corporations that apply a more instrumental orientation. Results also show an “in-between” position: an equidistant orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study proves the emergence of different dynamic managerial capabilities that depend on companies’ strategic orientation, but follow-up research based on appreciative inquiry is needed to investigate the development of these capabilities over time.Practical implicationsFor achieving a higher level of sustainability performance, a stewardship orientation offers a stronger foundation than an instrumental orientation. Also companies with an equidistant orientation have a better sustainability performance than companies with an instrumental orientation, but based on a more central corporate level. The strategic orientation must be grounded in the development of fitting dynamic managerial capabilities that include an emphasis on shared cognition of long-term objectives, inclusion of stakeholders and setting objectives. Also strong internal and external ties, leadership of the CEO, educational background and how to deal with lack of knowledge are important aspects of managerial social and human capital.Social implicationsDue to its focus on the sustainability performance of companies and the identification of the supporting dynamic managerial capabilities, this paper is socially highly relevant.Originality/valuePrevious research has focused on strategic orientation, but little to no research has investigated how various strategic orientations toward the interface between business and society impact sustainability performance or what role dynamic managerial capabilities might play in the related change process.

Qatar in Egypt: The politics of Al Jazeera

This article argues that, although Al Jazeera may have been founded with the idea of giving Qatar influence in the Arab world and beyond, it was through a form of slow Islamist takeover within Al Jazeera Network that first the new Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr (Al Jazeera Live from Egypt) and second the classic Al Jazeera Arabic were ideologically transformed. This transformation led both of these Al Jazeera subsidiaries to damage Qatar’s political relations with its neighboring states of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Analysis reveals that Al Jazeera and Qatar’s foreign policies are not identical. Rather, each institution manifests its own internal logic and enforces external ties. Moreover, there are many Al Jazeera(s): Al Jazeera Arabic (AJA), Al Jazeera English (AJE), Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr (AJMM), Al Jazeera Documentary etc. Each one is different. The article also examines the case of the three Al Jazeera English journalists who were jailed, tried, and eventually pardoned, in Egypt, as an example of the worsening political relations that developed between Qatar and Egypt as a result of confusing AJE’s professional work with the ultimately shut down AlJazeera Mubasher Misr’s Islamist editorial policy and unprofessional journalistic practices. Methods include: examining primary documents, qualitative content analysis of officials’ media interviews, fieldwork research in Egypt, and anthropological research in Qatar, interviewing journalists, public officials, and academics on various research trips between 2007 and 2017.

Frailty and social support of the elderly in contexts of social vulnerability

Objective: to analyze the relationship between of frailty and the family social relationships of the elderly in a context of social vulnerability. Methods: a cross-sectional study with elderly people enrolled in five Reference Centers for Social Assistance. Sample for convenience composed of 247 elderly. For data collection, a sociodemographic questionnaire, Edmonton Frailty Scale, Genogram and Eco-maps were used. Social vulnerability characterized according to Social Vulnerability Index. Results: of the respondents, 41.7% did not present frailty, 21.5% were apparently vulnerable and 36.8% frail. There was no significant difference between frailty and family relationship. There was significant difference between frailty and external attachment (p=0.010), indicating that elderly individuals with frailty at some level had a limited external link. Conclusion: elderly people who have a close relationship with family members, did not present frailty, while the majority of the elderly who do not have external ties, presented some level of frailty.

The perceived importance of external ties and the performance of small owner-managed firms

The effects of perceived importance of external ties, a dimension of tie strength, on the performance of small owner-managed firms were investigated using data from a survey of the owners of small owner-managed firms in Scotland and New Zealand. Ties rated as highly important were found to promote growth in sales. In contrast, weak-in-importance ties were found to suppress growth in sales. The results support the core competence perspective on the configuration of external ties, suggesting that firms should focus on important external ties that contribute to their core competencies.

External Network Ties, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Innovation Performance

The literature has highlighted the importance of external network ties in innovation. However, our understanding of how emerging market firms (EMFs) develop and transform the benefits of different types of networks to enhance innovation performance is still limited. Drawing on the social network theory and resource dependence theory, our research examines the relationship between political and business ties and the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on this relationship. We further investigate the mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on the relationship of business and political ties with innovation performance. Using a sample of 218 industrial firms from China which is one of the large emerging markets, we find that the positive relationship between political and business ties is stronger when the level of environmental dynamism is high. Moreover, EO fully mediates the relationship between business ties and innovation performance. In contrast, the mediating effects of EO on the political ties–innovation performance relationship are insignificant. This research contributes to the literature by examining environmental conditions of the interaction between business and political ties. This research also adds to the literature by providing new insights into how EO acts as effective mechanism through which external network ties benefit the internal innovation outcomes.

The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis.

There is evidence that relations between physicians and nurses within healthcare institutions might be shaped by informal aspects of such relations and by links to people external to the organization, with an impact on work performance. Social network analysis is underutilized in exploring such associations. The paper aims to describe physicians’ and nurses’ relationships outside their clinical units and to explore what kind of ties are related to job performance. A network analysis was performed on cross-sectional data. The study population consisted of 196 healthcare employees working in a public hospital and a primary healthcare centre in Spain. Relational data were analysed using the UCINET software package. Measures included: (i) sample characteristics; (ii) social network variables; and (iii) team performance ratings. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, percentages) were used to characterize staff and performance ratings. A correlational analysis was conducted to examine the strength of relationships between four different types of ties. Our findings suggest that external ties only contribute to improving the performance of physicians at both the individual and team level. They are focused on the decision-making process about the therapeutic plan and, therefore, might need to seek advice outside the workplace. In contrast, external ties are not relevant for the work performance of nurses, as they need to find solutions to immediate problems in a short period of time, having strong ties in the workplace. Social network analysis can illuminate relations within healthcare organizations and inform the development of innovative interventions.

External Social Ties and Loan Repayment of Group Lending Members: A Case Study of Pro Mujer Mexico

We investigate how external social ties, that is, social ties with individuals outside the borrowing group, determine loan repayments of individual borrowers in joint liability group lending. We measure the resources in external ties in terms of the informal risk insurance arrangement they embed. The ties borrowers have with individuals outside the group and the informal risk insurance arrangement they represent, help to survive in general, and repay their loans in particular. The risk of losing these ties increases the willingness to repay loans, that is, these ties can be regarded as a form of collateral to stimulate loan repayment. The extent to which these external ties are effectively pledged as collateral depends on the extent to which social networks of group members are overlapping: the more borrowers’ networks of external ties overlap (referred to as information channels), the higher the risk of losing the informal risk insurance arrangement in case of non-repayment. We use data from 802 mapped social networks of borrowers’ internal and external ties from a microfinance institution in Mexico. We find that group borrowers with external ties, representing a strong informal risk insurance arrangement while at the same time being information channels, have lower repayment problems

Physician referral patterns and racial disparities in total hip replacement: A network analysis approach.

BackgroundEfforts to reduce racial disparities in total hip replacement (THR) have focused mainly on patient behaviors. While these efforts are no doubt important, they ignore the potentially important role of provider- and system-level factors, which may be easier to modify. We aimed to determine whether the patterns of interaction among physicians around THR episodes differ in communities with low versus high concentrations of black residents.Materials and methodsWe analyzed national Medicare claims from 2008 to 2011, identifying all fee-for-service beneficiaries who underwent THR. Based on physician encounter data, we then mapped the physician referral networks at the hospitals where beneficiaries’ procedures were performed. Next, we measured two structural properties of these networks that could affect care coordination and information sharing: clustering, and the number of external ties. Finally, we estimated multivariate regression models to determine the relationship between the concentration of black residents in the community [as measured by the hospital service area (HSA)] served by a given network and each of these 2 network properties.ResultsOur sample included 336,506 beneficiaries (mean age 76.3 ± SD), 63.1% of whom were women. HSAs with higher concentrations of black residents tended to be more impoverished than those with lower concentrations. While HSAs with higher concentrations of black residents had, on average, more acute care beds and medical specialists, they had fewer surgeons per capita than those with lower concentrations. After adjusting for these differences, we found that HSAs with higher concentrations of black residents were served by physician referral networks that had significantly higher within-network clustering but fewer external ties.ConclusionsWe observed differences in the patterns of interaction among physicians around THR episodes in communities with low versus high concentrations of black residents. Studies investigating the impact of these differences on access to quality providers and on THR outcomes are needed.

Fostering Muslim Civic Engagement through Faith-Based Community Organizing

<p>Muslim Americans often encounter discriminatory practices similar to those experienced by other minority groups living in the U.S. Such practices range from mass incarceration and anti-immigration efforts to racial and religious profiling. In response, a growing number of Muslim American leaders are organizing their communities and collaborating with non-Muslims to address these issues through civic participation and political action. At the same time, several foundations throughout the country have begun asking how to promote civic engagement among Muslim Americans. Although little is known about Muslim American civic engagement and its outcomes, data from a national study indicates that faith-based community organizing is becoming a viable pathway for Muslim communities to (1) strengthen themselves internally by developing civic leaders and mobilizing everyday Muslim Americans to address issues affecting their community and (2) strengthen their external ties by bridging religious and social differences and by promoting policies that also benefit non-Muslims.</p>

Vietnam’s Foreign Policy in an Era of Rising Sino-US Competition and Increasing Domestic Political Influence

ABSTRACTThis article examines the dramatic shifts that Vietnam’s foreign policy has undergone over time, from a country tightly allied with Socialist partners like China and the Soviet Union to one that has diversified its strategic partners and foresworn alliances in order to protect its strategic autonomy. Vietnam’s adoption of Doi Moi or economic renovation led Vietnam to multilateralize and expand its economic and political partnerships in the quest for economic growth. Doi Moi’s success has produced a transformation in state–society relations as the rise in civil society organizations has weakened the VCP’s hegemonic grip on society and shifted the basis of regime legitimacy from nationalism and socialist ideology to performance legitimacy. As public opinion and elite factionalism play an increasing role in Vietnam foreign policy, managing Vietnam’s external ties has become increasingly difficult. This article concludes that public opinion regarding relations with China has become so toxic that it poses a serious challenge to the political legitimacy of Vietnam’s one-party regime should it fail to deter Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.