Organizational Ecology Research Articles

Manager Control Over Outcomes? Nature and Nurture Over Time

Recent scholarship on organizational change has de-emphasized environment, core competencies at founding, and structural inertia in favor of the study of strategic management. We encourage renewed consideration of forces over which managers have less control. In a reconsideration and conceptual extension of Hager and Brudney’s nature and nurture influences on nonprofit efforts to recruit volunteers, we introduce central dimensions of organizational ecology theory. We assert that more attention to the tenets of organizational ecology will sensitize the field to the influence of environments in which organizations operate. Consistent with Hager and Brudney, our longitudinal assessment of nonprofits not only records the value of purposeful adjustments of programs but also highlights how the evolution of structural conditions plays an essential role in core organizational outcomes in volunteer management. Beyond the usual validation of strategic management, we emphasize that the influence of environment and structure is an essential determinant of the fates of organizations over time.

Torn into the Abyss?

Abstract Recent challenges to the liberal international order (LIO) have called into question the efficacy of international organizations (IO s) in global governance. However, it remains unclear if the anticipated crisis of the LIO affects all policy fields to the same degree. Based on organizational ecology, this article seeks to explain compositions and trajectories across three fields—climate, education, and health. It shows that the three subpopulations of IO s are stable since the early 2000s, while regional IO s constitute a significant share of the subpopulations. It further finds notable variation in the distribution of generalist and specialist IO s. While the number of generalist IO s in relation to specialist health IO s decreased over time, the article finds generalist education and climate IO s have been on the rise. It argues that—as policy issues grow ever more interconnected over time—IO s expand their thematic scopes to new niches.

United we stand? Organizational groups and spinoff mortality in the context of academic entrepreneurship

We study failures between 1993 and 2017 in the complete population of 1731 English and Scottish university spinoffs founded since 1977. We borrow and expand the concept of density dependence from organizational ecology to theorize that a spinoff's propensity to fail is affected by the number of spinoffs active not only in the aggregate population but also within its parent university's portfolio. We contribute to organizational theory, demonstrating the importance of organizational groups that form within larger populations on individual organizations' propensity to fail. We contribute to literature on academic entrepreneurship showing that, for most universities, spinoff portfolio growth can lower associated spinoffs' failure rates, but that such effects need to be juxtaposed to the aggregate population's finite capacity to support an expanding number of spinoffs.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Network Attribute Analysis and Competitiveness Evaluation of Auto Parts Industry Cluster for e-Commerce Platform

The automotive parts industry cluster is a complex operating system, and it is no longer possible to use a simple theory to make a scientific and reasonable explanation for the parts industry cluster. In view of this, the study takes the automotive parts industry cluster as the research object, innovatively invokes the theory of organizational ecology and constructs a competitiveness analysis mechanism based on population co-evolution. The study conducts performance analysis and simulation tests on the constructed model, integrating the CS–AHP evaluation method to evaluate the competitiveness of the parts industry cluster. The performance comparison results show that the research method has a minimum training error of 0.0108, when the number of iterations of the system is 69th. This method has a stable loss function value at the fifth iteration, which is a stable convergence state earlier than the GA algorithm, differential evolution and distribution estimation algorithm. The A-level index score of the off-line platform auto parts industry cluster is 0.5174, which is significantly greater than 0.5. The competitive cooperation effect, technological innovation effect and cluster culture scores of the e-commerce platform are 0.5885, 0.6899 and 0.5329, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of the off-line. The above results show that the accuracy of the research algorithm is higher than that of the off-line industry. The above results show that the accuracy of the research algorithm is better, which can make a reasonable scientific basis for the auto parts industry and carry out competitiveness evaluation. To a certain extent, it can provide technical reference for the future development of the auto field industry.

Kuram Odaklı Analizlerde Soru Listesi Geliştirme: Dört Çerçeve Modeli ve İlişkili Kuramlar

The aim of this research is to develop a checklist of questions that can be used in the analysis of institutional functioning or problems by relating each framework in the four-framework model developed by Bolman and Deal with different theories. Graduate education institutions were selected as the unit of analysis and the questions were developed taking into account the functioning and problems in the institutions. The method of document analysis was used in the research based on qualitative research. Graduate theses in Google Scholar and YÖK thesis database, articles, papers and books published in refereed journals and indexed in international and national indexes were used as data sources. In selecting the theories, the overlap between the content of the Four Frame Model and the assumptions of the theories was taken into account. The selected theories are limited to the accessed theories and the consensus among the researchers regarding the content of the Four Fram Model and the overlap of the assumptions of these theories. In the process of data collection and analysis, an algorithm was created by the researchers and description, sampling and association were used in the analysis. According to the results of the research, a checklist of questions was developed, taking into account that the structural frame dimension of the model can be used with Bureaucracy Theory and Organisational Ecology Theory; the human resource frame dimension with Motivation Theory and Mental Models Theory; the political framework with Organisational Cohesion Theory and Actor Network Theory; and the symbolic frame with Symbolic Interaction Theory. In a further study, the checklist can be extended with different theories, the functionality of the question checklist can be tested with experimental studies, and software for theory-oriented decision support systems can be developed. Keywords: Four-Frame Model Theory based analysis, postgraduate education,

Ecological constraints on audience size in the digital media system: evidence from the longitudinal tracking data from 2019 to 2022

Abstract The current high-choice media environment is characterized by increasingly intense competition for audience resources among media products. Drawing on research in organizational ecology and communication, audience behavior, and media economics, this study provides an ecological explanation for audience size in the digital media system. The analysis of Comscore’s aggregate audience data on the use of 64 digital media platforms over a 38-month period from 2019 to 2022 shows that a platform’s audience size is negatively associated with its niche overlap with another platform. This competitive effect of niche overlap on a platform’s current audience size is moderated by its previous audience size (size dependence) and species membership in the environment (species dependence). The results also support the short- and long-term stability of audience size.

Organizational Ecology's Contagion Growth Perspective in the Study of Standalone Charter Schools in New York City

This study aims to examine standalone charters in terms of organizational ecology's contagion growth that spread across New York City's neighborhoods from 2000 to 2007. Spatial autoregressive models and geographic information systems reveal that the density dependence that occurs from one standalone charter location to its nearby neighborhoods is associated with low commercial property values, renter-occupied housing units, African-American and Hispanic population, school-age children, and income measures. Among nonprofit types, education- and religious-related nonprofits appear to be among the most consistent significant variables. This study suggests that promising directions for future research centered on ecosystems of charter school growth are context-dependent.

Pioneering excellence or fleeing mediocracy? Why venture capital firms internationalize

AbstractResearch SummaryTheories and empirical evidence on the competitive motives for VC internationalization are unclear and contradictory. In our study, we adopt a performance feedback perspective to explain VC firms' motives to venture abroad. We leverage unique peer‐performance data on 295 VC funds and 2954 VC investments and find support for our hypotheses that performance below (a) peer, (b) historical, or (c) market aspiration levels drives VCs exodus to (a) foreign and (b) more distant markets. Our study complements theories on internationalization with an organization ecology perspective that acknowledges internationalization as an attempt at adaptation triggered by poor performance.Managerial SummaryVenture capitalists (VC) are not just owners, but take an active role in shaping their portfolio companies' strategies. This causes them to favor investments in their geographic and psychic proximity to allow hands‐on business development. Nevertheless, the share of cross‐border investments by VCs has risen steadily in past years. Our research shows that this internationalization is not solely driven by pioneering and successful VCs but oftentimes by VCs struggling to achieve performance levels. This notion of internationalization by the weakest has important firm‐level consequences.

Disequilibrium and complexity across scales: a patch-dynamics framework for organizational ecology

Based on equilibrium assumptions, traditional ecological models have been widely applied in the fields of management and organization studies. While research using these models is still ongoing, studies have nonetheless struggled with ways to address multiple levels of analysis, uncertainty, and complexity in their analyses. This paper conceptualizes the dynamic co-evolution mechanisms that operate in an ecosystem across multiple organizational scales. Specifically, informed by recent advances in modelling in biology, a general ‘patch-dynamics’ framework that is theoretically and methodologically able to capture disequilibrium, uncertainty, disturbances, and changes in organizational populations or ecosystems, as complex and dynamically evolving resource environments are introduced. Simulation models are built to show the patch-dynamics framework’s functioning and test its robustness. The patch-dynamics framework and modelling methodology integrates equilibrium and disequilibrium perspectives, co-evolutions across multiple organization levels, uncertainties, and random disturbances into a single framework, opening new avenues for future research on topics in the field of management and organization studies, as well as on the mechanisms that shape ecosystems. Such a framework has the potential to help analyse the sustainability and healthiness of the business environment, and deserves more attention in future research on management and organization theory, particularly in the context of significant uncertainty and disturbances in business and management practice. Overall, the paper offers a distinct theoretical perspective and methodology for modelling population and ecosystem dynamics across different scales.

Exploring Niche Alteration in Nonprofit Organizations

The organizational niche is a concept integral to organizational ecology, reflecting an organization’s mission, expertise, capacity, and resource requirements. The choice of niche is crucial to the viability of the organization; however, the reasons organizations alter their niche are poorly understood. We hypothesize that nonprofit organizations alter their niche to reduce environmental pressure and gain access to resources. The results indicate that niche alteration predicts increases in total revenue with average increases in revenue from program services and contributions (depending on the measure). Additionally, nonprofits that are younger, larger, and have more concentrated revenue, are more likely to alter their niche.

Organizational Ecology and Its Implications on Organizational Ecological Innovation

This study has the objective to analyze the implications of the organizational ecology on organizational ecological innovation from the assumption that the theoretical and conceptual framework of organizational ecology is positively associates with ecological innovation in organizations. The method employed is the analytical and reflective based on the theoretical and conceptual literature review. It is concluded that major organizational ecological innovations leading to technical changes are pioneered by entrepreneurial organizations shedding light on the positive relationships between the concepts and theories of organizational ecology and the competing mechanisms posited in the results of the organizational innovative ecology.

The Power of Specialization: NGO Advocacy in Global Conservation Governance

AbstractOrganizational ecology has attracted growing interest in global governance research in recent years. As a structural theory, however, organizational ecology has overlooked how organizations may shape the organizational environment by their own choices. Bridging the insights of organizational ecology and the study of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), I argue that the organizational choice of specialism (as opposed to generalism) increases the power of NGOs to influence an environmental condition—issue salience—by targeting a small but engaged segment of the public. Focusing on wildlife conservation governance, I collected new comprehensive data on NGOs and issue characteristics (2008–2015). My empirical analysis shows that specialist NGO density is strongly associated with issue salience. I further examined causal processes in the case of pangolin conservation advocacy, in which specialist NGOs first raised issue salience and generalist NGOs followed. The findings suggest a division of labor among NGOs and challenge a conventional view that the power of NGOs is concentrated in a small number of prominent organizations.

Ephemeral who? Evidence from the reconversion process implemented by Italian fashion companies in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractThe paper provides insights over the response of the Italian fashion companies to the pandemic between their willingness to help the country to face the emergency and their necessity to keep the business afloat. In an exploratory ethos and by relying on qualitative inductive research, the study investigates 11 fashion companies by also engaging in extensive secondary data collection at the industry level. By reconciling several theoretical lenses (i.e., strategic management, grand challenges and organizational ecology) into a systemic conceptual framework, the paper uncovers the underlying dynamics of the reconversion process by also unpacking the relevant dimensions that were leveraged by the companies to respond to the pandemic. Through the concept of adaptive resilience, the findings highlight how the Italian fashion companies were able to cope with the pandemic, with the reconversion process being implemented at the crossroads between exploring opportunities of a new (albeit often temporary) business and the exploitation of existing key resources and capabilities.

Re-examining foreign subsidiary survival in a transition economy: Impact of market identity overlap and conflict

Taking an identity perspective from the organizational ecology literature, we re-examine foreign subsidiary survival in a transition economy. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) with a socialist identity and privately owned enterprises (POEs) with a market identity exert different influences on foreign-owned enterprises (FOEs). SOEs and POEs affect the survival of FOEs primarily through the cognitive legitimation process. SOEs tend to crowd out FOEs due to identity conflict. Owing to identity overlap, POEs tend to increase the survival chances of FOEs. The level of socialist legacy in regions where FOEs are located affects the sociopolitical legitimacy of FOEs’ market identity, thus moderating the relationships between SOE and POE density and the survival of foreign subsidiaries.

The Road to Electoral Authoritarianism: Tracing Three Phases of State-Society Contention in Post-Colonial Hong Kong, 2003–2020

Previous studies have examined Hong Kong’s hybrid regime by investigating the interactions among activists, the local government, and the Chinese national government. This article adopts the lens of contentious politics and a multi-level approach to understand regime evolution within the local-national-regional-global nexus. It presents an original dataset that records movement tactics and state responses in four major protests and delineates three phases of state-society contention between 2003 and 2020. It explains regime evolution by highlighting five intertwining factors: activists’ tactical learning; organisational ecology in civil society; state repression strategies; regional politics in Greater China; and international political economy. It finds that the first phase (2003–2012) was characterised by an increasing use of disruptive tactics, an emergent call for de-centred mobilisation, and a limited deployment of state security forces. The second phase (2013–2015) exhibited nascent applications of violent tactics, while the state employed more forceful police repression, re-engineered the electoral field, and sponsored counter-mobilisation. The most recent phase (2016–2020) showed activists’ intensified use of violent tactics and a strong intention to seek international support. The state responded to local threats and international pressure with violent crackdowns and stricter institutional arrangements, which has resulted in an electoral authoritarian regime that is less-than-competitive.

The evaluation model of the sustainable development of managers' competence

In recent years, due to the drastic changes in the economic environment, domestic companies have experienced many industrial changes. From the perspective of industrial evolution, the correspondence between organization and strategy not only has a time gap, but also full of uncertainty and dynamic decision-making process. To explore the ecological growth and decline of the industry, we can observe the interaction between manufacturers and the environment in the industry through the perspective of ethnic ecology. This research is mainly for the high-tech industry research, the research object is the middle-level director of the high-tech industry in Guizhou Province, the questionnaire is issued. A total of 360 questionnaires were sent out, and 252 valid questionnaires were collected, with a recovery rate of 70%. Research results: (1) Competency has a significant positive impact on organizational ecology. (2) Organizational ecology has a significant positive impact on sustainable development. (3) Competency has a significant positive impact on sustainable development. Based on the results, suggestions are proposed, and it is expected to explore the adaptation strategies that middle managers must adopt in order to achieve sustainable development as environmental conditions change.

Analysis of the Paths Affecting Corporate Green Innovation in Resource-Based Cities: A Fuzzy-Set QCA Approach

Green innovation is essential for companies to achieve their dual carbon goals. However, academics have been researching how to encourage enterprises in resource-based cities to take the initiative to implement green innovations. In contrast, we construct a configurational framework based on organizational ecology theory and propose that corporate green innovation does not depend on a single condition, but on the interaction of spatial agglomeration, digital economy, and institutional environment. We identify and explore six conditions that influence corporate green innovation in this study based on a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of firms in resource-based cities. We show that high-level corporate green innovation can be achieved through different combinations of antecedent conditions. There is also a clear influence of synergy between spatial agglomeration, digital economy, and institutional environment, which can jointly promote corporate green innovation. This study provides a more systematic explanation of how companies can raise their levels of green innovation, as well as valuable insights for companies seeking to improve their green innovation awareness proactively.

Organizing for expropriation: How a tenants campaign convinced Berliners to vote for expropriating big landlords

On 26 September 2021, 59% of Berliners eligible to vote decided in a referendum for the expropriation of big landlords and to socialize approximately 250.000 housing units. This article looks at how the campaign Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co was able to do so. The article begins by introducing conceptualizations of social movement impacts. It then expands on these conceptualizations with a thick description of the emergence and the organizational structure of the expropriation campaign, including the material basis of the campaign, the dire situation of Berlin’s tenants, the organizational ecology of the tenant movement out of which the campaign grew, the political terrain and public discourse the campaign had to navigate, and at the organizational process of the campaign itself. Drawing on such thick description, we revisit and add nuance to the conceptualizations of social movement impact in social movement studies, and highlight the complex interplay between different factors and their effect on different stages of the political process.

Time-Varying Network Connectedness Between the Organizational Ecology of Transportation and Storage Firms and Macroeconomic Variables

Abstract Research background: Environmental factors are not adequately addressed in organizational ecology studies. At the same time, it is known that the theory has not received enough attention except for North America, which is the emerging point. Purpose: We aim to examine macroeconomic connectedness between the organizational ecology of transportation and storage firms and macroeconomic variables such as price and production indexes. Research methodology: This paper discusses the relation among the following variables within the framework of macroeconomic connectedness via organizational ecology theory. The variables are FOUNDINGS, DISBANDINGS, TRNSP-CPI, PPI IPI and ENERGY. We use the TVP-VAR based Diebold-Yılmaz Connectedness approach in the analysis of the data. Results: DISBANDING is the net transmitter throughout the entire period. FOUNDING is mainly a net shock receiver during the COVID-19 period and transmitter in other periods. TRANS-CPI and PPI are risk receivers throughout the entire period, and even the shocks they transmit increased in the post-2018 period. ENERGY and IPI are in shock receiver status throughout the entire period. The received shocks of IPI from others have decreased with the effect of the lockdown experienced during the COVID-19 period. Novelty: The investors can hedge against risk by looking at industry production capacity and the number of firm closures, considering the net bilateral link between the indices, and calculating the appropriate time period for establishing a firm. Connectedness indices vary considerably over the sampling period, which indicates that investors must dynamically adjust their position in the industry.

A Field Study Update on Organizational Satanism and Setianism in the United States

Background With recent attention to the organizational dynamics of contemporary Satanism, updated information on Satanic and Setian organizations is imperative for the field. Purpose The purpose of this research note is to update the literature surrounding Satanism and Setianism with new organizational and administrative information, which will help scholars studying these groups in developing new theoretical frameworks and interpretations. Methods A snowball sample interview, participant observation, and ethnographic study was conducted. In person field work was done primarily in Austin, TX, and New York, NY, where occult bookstores, wicca stores, online group pages/forums, Satanic gatherings, and goth clothing shops were frequented for a portrayal of “lived Satanism.” Results Findings elaborate on the authority structures of five Satanic and Setian organizations, and a long considered defunct Satanic group called the Church of Satanic Brotherhood is uncovered. Participants also elaborate on the previous schisms within the Satanic niche. Conclusions and Implications Field note recommendations are given to future researchers working in Satanic studies. The organizational findings inform future research and theoretical innovations, including religious organization ecology (ROE) theory.