Organizational Ecology Theory Research Articles

Responding to the Current Capricious State of Australian Educational Leadership: We Should Have Seen It Coming!

The capricious state of Australian educational leadership is evidenced in the publication, “The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Survey 2022 Data”, which highlights unsustainable adverse health outcomes for an increasing number of school leaders. According to this report, the accumulation of stress caused by the sheer quantity of work, the lack of time to focus on teaching and learning, a lack of sufficient teachers, and having to care for an increasing number of staff and students with mental health issues were the main causes of professional disillusionment and burnout among Australian school leaders. Moreover, the level of destabilisation and chaos that this situation could cause, should it continue to rise, is compounded by current research highlighting an ever-decreasing number of applicants for school leadership positions. To assign blame for this serious predicament on the excessive school leadership demands during COVID-19 is to ignore the abundant pre-existing evidence already pointing to this eventuality. However, the way in which Australian school leaders were able to constructively lead during the intensely demanding COVID-19 period does provide additional compelling support for the adoption of a far more relational foundation for leadership theory and practice. Hence, in response to this understanding, this article first presents during-COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 Australian school leadership research literature to not only describe the evolving concerning issues but also to present the demand for a more relational approach to leadership. Then, the article proceeds to justify and illustrate a new relational approach to the practice of school leadership informed by our theory of organizational ecology. It is proposed that this new way of leading relationally will enable Australian school leaders to ultimately overcome the myriad of complex and stressful crises that now confront them.

Resolving entrepreneurial liabilities in African businesses: does gender diversity of ownership team matter?

ABSTRACT This study explores the role of gender diversity in enterprise ownership teams (EOTs) in addressing size and age (entrepreneurial) liabilities in African businesses. Using a contingency framework with organizational ecology theory as its base, gender diversity in EOTs is argued as a strategic action small businesses can use to ameliorate the constraints imposed by the entrepreneurial liabilities of newness and smallness. These hypotheses are tested using World Bank enterprise surveys in Africa across multiple industries. The study finds that gender diversity in EOTs presents small businesses with a competitive advantage to drive their performance. Gender diverse EOTs is found to be useful in relieving the constraints imposed by liability of size but not the liability age. The study contributes to the integrativists perspective of management by integrating the deterministic effects of business age as well as size and the voluntaristic effects of gender diversity using a contingency framework.

“First come, first served" or “the more, the merrier"? Organizational dynamics of citizen-led solar initiatives and the presence of photovoltaic installations in Germany

This paper examines the emergence of 1,072 solar initiatives (268 associations and 804 cooperatives operating photovoltaic systems) from 2006 to 2018 in Germany. The study draws on organizational ecology theory to identify factors that influence the likelihood of establishing a solar initiative by investigating the impacts of two opposing effects: legitimation effects and competition effects. We show that the density of medium-scale photovoltaic installations in a district negatively affects the likelihood of establishing a solar initiative, suggesting that competitive dynamics prevail between different market entrants, dampening the emergence of solar initiatives. By contrast, we find that the founding of a solar initiative in a district has a positive effect on the probability of founding other solar initiatives in the same district, confirming legitimacy effects. Further, we show that solar initiatives are more likely to be founded in rural areas, especially in densifying rural areas.

Analysis of the Impact of Structuralized Industrial Upgrading and Industry Chain Resilience

This paper integrates several theoretical perspectives, such as economics, sociology, environmental science, organizational ecology, global value chain theory and complexity theory, to explore in depth the interrelationship between structured industrial upgrading and the resilience of the industrial chain. From the economic dimension, industrial upgrading not only promotes the development of the industry chain to a higher level, but also improves the resilience of the whole industry chain by reducing the dependence on limited resources through the introduction of new technologies and the enhancement of efficiency. The consideration of the social dimension emphasizes the importance of paying attention to social responsibility and social participation in the upgrading process, which helps establish a stronger social foundation and improves the resilience of the whole industrial chain. The environmental dimension perspective reveals the positive impact of the environmental friendliness of industrial chain upgrading on resilience, which enhances the overall stability of the industrial chain by reducing environmental shocks. Organizational ecology theory, on the other hand, highlights the roles and interactions at the organizational level, and factors such as organizational evolution, adaptation, and resource allocation have far-reaching impacts on the resilience of the industry chain. The global value chain theory provides a global perspective, emphasizing the importance of division of labor synergy and diversification in each link of the chain. Finally, complexity theory profoundly analyzes the complex mechanism of industry chain evolution from the perspectives of self-organizing behavior, path dependence, and nonlinear effects, enabling a better understanding of the dynamic evolution process of the industry chain. The synthesis of these theoretical perspectives provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between industrial structuralization and upgrading and industry chain resilience, and provides theoretical support for the development of more comprehensive and targeted policies and strategies in the future. In practice, an in-depth analysis of how various factors interact will help promote the sustainable development and adaptive upgrading of the industrial chain.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Flow and Ebb: Factors affecting SMEs to exit from the DRP market during pandemic

Based on organizational ecology theory, this study demonstrates the exit issue of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that grasped the opportunity from the surging demand for disaster relief products (DRPs) while facing uncertainty during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we find that higher product complexity and spatial proximity limit DRP SMEs’ organizational niches and increase the competition within organizational niches, facilitating their exit. Following the framework of organizational ecology theory, we further clarify the moderating effects of market demands and managerial experience. Our findings extend the firm exit literature by shedding light on the opportunity-seized SMEs during the pandemic and contribute to the organizational ecology literature by expanding its application to the disaster context.

How do Incumbents Affect the Founding of Cooperatives? Evidence from the German electricity industry

As cooperatives become a crucial part of our society’s repository of solutions for addressing the sustainability challenges, the very emergence of cooperatives continues to puzzle scholars. In this study we address a central concern for both organizational scholars and sustainability advocates, i.e. where and under which conditions cooperatives emerge as an alternative form to corporations. Building on organizational ecology theories, we argue that the varying organizational characteristics within local incumbent forms constitute an additional layer to explain cooperatives’ emergence, above and beyond the known effects of community characteristics and incumbents’ aggregated density (or capacity). Our analysis of a unique data set of German energy cooperatives between 2003 and 2010 support our hypotheses. Our results show that energy cooperatives are more likely to be founded where incumbent utilities have higher average age and greater size diversity, because age-related inertia and lack of competition among incumbents of diverse size limit their adaptability towards serving the new market demand for renewable energy.

Commercializing nonprofit organizations? Evidence from the Chinese nonprofit sector

AbstractThe increasing reliance on commercial income in the nonprofit sector (“nonprofit commercialization”) in various countries has become a highly contested topic. In recent years, Chinese nonprofits have also paid growing attention to commercial activities and revenue. However, empirical studies on the commercialization of Chinese nonprofits are limited. This study conducts the first empirical research to examine the scope and antecedents of nonprofit commercialization in China. Through a nationwide survey of 336 service‐delivery nonprofits (private nonenterprise organizations), the study finds that Chinese nonprofits' overall level of commercialization is modest, but the level varies substantially by organization. Further, informed by resource dependence theory, institutional theory, and organizational ecology theory, the study finds that Chinese nonprofit commercialization is driven by resource insufficiency, government connections, and environmental munificence. These findings extend the literature on nonprofit commercialization with new empirical evidence from a non‐Western, authoritarian context.摘要在许多国家，非营利部门对商业收入的日益依赖已经成为一个备受争议的话题。近年来，中国的非营利组织也开始重视商业活动以及随之带来的服务收入。然而，关于中国非营利组织商业化的实证研究并不多见。本研究首次实证分析了中国非营利组织商业化的规模和驱动因素。根据对全国336家服务性非营利组织(民办非企业单位)的定量分析，本研究发现中国非营利组织的商业化水平总体上是适中的，但是不同组织间的商业化水平存在较大的差异。此外，结合资源依赖理论、制度理论和组织生态学理论，本研究发现，组织内部资源匮乏、一定程度的政治关联和丰沛的外部资源环境是中国非营利组织商业化主要的驱动因素。这些基于非西方、威权国家情境的经验证据拓展了非营利组织商业化的相关文献○

An Organizational Analysis of the Schismatic Church of Satan

Background The Church of Satan, the seminal example of organizational Satanism, was founded in 1966. During the 1970s, the Church of Satan was wracked by a history of numerous schisms. Despite the notoriety of Satanism in popular culture, few scholars have analyzed the Church of Satan as a religious organization. Furthermore, not many scholars have directly discussed the schisms that it has undergone. Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyze the Church of Satan, an understudied case in American religious organizational history, and its schisms. A theoretical framework based on religious economies and organizational ecology is introduced to account for schism in Satanism, which hitherto has been dominated by European cultural milieu arguments. Methods A historical case study is performed on the case of the Church of Satan, using primary and secondary documentation, in order to address four theoretical propositions. Results Findings demonstrate costliness, authority, doctrine, and niche/environment were all potential causes for the schisms that impacted the Church of Satan. Conclusions and Implications The Church of Satan conforms to religious economies and organizational ecology theory expectations of schism. Further research is needed to understand organizational aspects of Satanism and other avant garde religious groups.

BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ECOLOGY THEORY (OET): TO REVIEW PAST FOR DIRECTING THE FUTURE OF THE FIELD

In this study, 399 articles of the extant literature published in the Web of Science database between 1975 and 2020 were examined using bibliometric analysis to determine the extent of Organizational Ecology Theory (OET) literature and current research priorities. Bibliometric techniques such as performance analysis, citation analysis, co-word and co-citation analysis are used for this purpose. We extracted several thematically clusters from bibliometric networks using co-citation and co-word analysis, describing related but distinct subfields of inquiry within the OET literature. “Organizational change”, “organizational forms and identity”, and “organizational founding and mortality” are overlapping clusters. Topics such as new organizational type, organizational failure, first-mover advantage, organizational founding, and coevolution may be examined in future research. Therefore, the expected contribution of this study is to provide a helpful inventory of past research to direct future research on the post-covid-19 era to advance OET literature.

ANALISIS FAKTOR KINERJA ORGANISASI BADAN KESATUAN BANGSA DAN POLITIK KOTA SEMARANG

This study aims to analyze performance and determine organizational performance factors in the National and Political Unity Body of Semarang City. This research uses descriptive qualitative research methods. Qualitative data were obtained through various kinds of data collection techniques, including through interviews, document analysis, literature study and selection of informants using purposive techniques, the quality of the data was tested using the Triangulation Technique. In this study, innovation as a process of organizational learning and knowledge creation related to organizational capacity to respond to environmental changes. This research is based on the application of Organizational Ecology Theory and The Punctuation Model and Theory of Strategic Adaptation and Sustainable Change. Based on this theory, organizational innovation can be generated by technological innovation and increased organizational learning capacity and transformation. The results of the study explained that the organizational performance of the National Unity and Political Body of the City of Semarang was not optimal, so there was still much that needed to be improved so that the public's assessment of the level of performance of the office organization would increase.

Need‐resource indicators and nonprofit human services organization density

AbstractThe challenges facing the US nonprofit human services organizations (NHSOs) in securing philanthropic resources and the resulting pressure for increased commercialization are well‐known in the nonprofit literature. However, there is still limited research on how such financial challenges are likely to affect their location choices, particularly in a post‐recession context. Using organizational ecology theory, we conducted a nationwide longitudinal study covering the period of the US 2008 recession to examine whether resource availability is more likely to predict the density of NHSOs than human needs. We used secondary data on a variety of socioeconomic variables from the National Center for Charitable Statistics and the US census survey in a linear multivariate regression analysis. The findings supported a majority of hypotheses, suggesting that NHSOs pursuing earned income are less (versus more) likely to be established in regions where the socioeconomic factors indicate a high (versus low) level of human needs. These findings suggest a counterintuitive trend in the establishment of NHSOs and present cautionary information on pursuing commercial activities in the human services sector.

Survival of e-commerce entrepreneurs: The importance of brick-and-click and internationalization strategies

• Organizational ecology theory can explain ecommerce entrepreneurs’ survival. • The internationalization is a strategic factor explaining ecommerce entrepreneurs’ survival. • The risk of bankruptcy is low for companies following a brick and click strategy. • The empirical study supports the ‘survival of the fitter’ principle. • It is worth analysing the firms’ accounting information in their first years. E-commerce is a fast-growing industry that attracts many entrepreneurs; however, the survival rate is lower than that of other industries. Entrepreneurs take many strategic decisions that have a significant bearing on the success of their e-commerce ventures. Two are particularly salient for our research: Is it better to start as a pure-click or open a physical store? To what extent should e-commerce ventures internationalize? We also wonder if it is worth reviewing the first annual accounts available. Grounding on organizational ecology theory, we develop a model hypothesizing that (1) the brick-and-click strategy favours survival; (2) internationalization favours survival; (3) firm size and financial health matter; (4) earnings management mediates the relationship between financial health and survival; and (5) the brick-and-click and internationalization strategies mediate the relationship between size and survival. The empirical study is performed by analysing seven years of data on 632 new e-commerce ventures using non-parametric means tests, a Cox regression, and a generalized structural equation model. The study tests the strategies followed by e-commerce entrepreneurs and firm characteristics that influence survival. We find that the risk of bankruptcy is 1.437 times greater for pure-click than for brick-and-click retailers, 2.778 times greater for local players than for internationalized firms, and 1.787 times greater for unprofitable firms than for profitable firms. Hence, it is worth analysing the financial statements provided by entrepreneurs; however, signs of earnings management should be checked. All these factors affect the probability of early bankruptcy as well as explain survival several years later.

Ecological Influences on Network Tie Dissolution in the Evolution of Affiliation Networks in the International Communication Association, 2009–2015

AbstractThis study examined the influences of ecological factors on the dissolution of affiliation ties in the International Communication Association (ICA). The affiliation network in this study represented the connections between ICA members and ICA divisions and interest groups. Guided by insights from organizational ecology and network theory, this research used a multilevel discrete-time event history analysis to test how ecological factors influenced active ICA members’ decisions to drop affiliation ties. An empirical analysis was conducted using a longitudinal sample of 1,282 active members and 23 divisions and interest groups from 2009 to 2015. The results showed that the likelihood of tie dissolution was significantly constrained by the length of an individual’s organizational membership, the division or interest group’s fuzzy density (generally considered as a proxy for legitimacy perceptions), and the group’s contrast (one measure of the level of clarity vs ambiguity of a group’s identity). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Racial Dynamics of Congregations and Communities: A Longitudinal Analysis of United Methodist Congregations, 1990–2010

Abstract Alarge body of research documents the difficulty congregations have in creating and sustaining racially diverse memberships. However, little scholarship explores the overlapping consequences of racial change in congregations and neighborhoods over time. Since the number of all-white neighborhoods has fallen sharply in recent decades, we ask in this study: what are the consequences of racial change in congregations and neighborhoods on congregational attendance? We employ longitudinal data from over 20,000 United Methodist congregations between 1990 and 2010 paired with census tract data for the same time period. We use growth curve models to test three hypotheses derived from Organizational Ecology Theory. While Methodist churches have decreasing attendance, we find that racial diversity inside a church is associated with higher average attendance by year and across years. Outside a church, percent white in the neighborhood positively predicts attendance, at least in the short term. Both white and nonwhite Methodist churches have higher attendance when located in white neighborhoods; white churches in nonwhite neighborhoods fare the worst. Our conclusion discusses these patterns and highlights the complexities of accommodating racial differences in congregations amidst ongoing demographic changes outside their doors.

Successful transition to a market economy: an interpretation from organizational ecology theory and institutional theory

AbstractThis article investigates the rationales for the successful economic transition in a transition country through the lens of organizational ecology theory and institutional theory. Initially, the new private sector emerges and survives because of “legitimacy spillovers” from the legitimized transitional mixed sector and some market-oriented identity overlap. Over time, as the private sector builds its own legitimacy, it competes with the state and the mixed sector and challenges their existence. Finally, the Schumpeterian “creative destruction” process replaces the old out-of-date sectors with the new dominant sector. Consistent with organizational ecology theory, the evolution and dynamics of the three economic sectors take place through their interactions, which determine the emergence, prominence, decline, and exit of firm populations in each sector. Depending on whether a centrally planned or market-oriented political legacy plays the dominant role in the regional environment where the transition takes place, local institutions play a moderating role in stimulating or hindering this evolution process. Empirically, we test this mechanism using census data for firms operating in Vietnam between 2000 and 2013, applying Blundell and Bond’s generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique and the piecewise exponential hazard model to study the interaction effects of economic sectors in terms of profitability and survival.

The concept of ecosystem in economic and management studies

The concept of ecosystem enjoys growing popularity among academics and practitioners around the globe. However, due to the inconsistent use and the vagueness of definitions, the application of the concept in economic and management studies is impeded. The paper systematizes the prerequisites, theoretical foundations and conceptual framework of ecosystems as a concept for describing a new structure of social relations. The methodological basis of the research is organizational ecology theory, dynamic capabilities theory and neo-institutional theory. Structural-logical, bibliographic and criterion analysis are the main research methods. The article substantiates the expediency of using the prefix “eco-” when describing the interaction between a company and its environment, and indentifies the primary provisions of organizational ecology affecting the emergence of the ecosystem concept. The author examines the intermediate position of the ecosystem in the neo-institutional dichotomy of market– hierarchy. The study discusses the extent to which the ecosystem influences dynamic capabilities of a firm, and demonstrates inconsistencies in using the term “ecosystem” in academic texts. As a result of bibliographic analysis, we distinguish between four central research discourses of the ecosystem concept (business, innovation, entrepreneurial and platform-based ecosystems), as well as establish their terminological peculiarities and main research avenues. The results obtained can be used to develop the theory of ecosystems and describe ecosystems of real business.