Streams of Thought: Research Collaborations and Knowledge Flows at a Leading Research University

• In Event: 562 - Regular Session. Social Networks, Identities, and Inequality

Abstract

This article builds upon Durkheim’s view of organic solidarity within “corporate organizations.” It examines the relevant case of Stanford University during a period of growing multidisciplinary research (1997-2007), assessing solidarity through collaboration networks and a novel measure of knowledge flows in the short-cycled movement of published references from one researcher to another. It describes the degree of organic solidarity and its trajectory among 1,007 faculty members, and highlights dyadic factors that are likely to impact the production of solidarity, including tie salience, team size, indirect ties, intellectual complementarity, and status. Findings suggest a growing cohesiveness within the university produced through a system in which new faculty members replenish the university’s intellectual stocks and complementary ideas are assimilated; while directly coauthoring with established researchers integrates new members and ideas within a hierarchical structure of knowledge production spanning departments and disciplines.

Authors

• Craig M. Rawlings, University of California-Santa Barbara

• Daniel A. McFarland, Stanford University

• Linus Dahlander, European School of Management and Technology

• Dan Wang, Columbia University