What Matters for Interorganizational Connectedness? Locating the Drivers of Multiplex Corporate Networks

• In Event: 2434 - Economic Sociology Regular Session: Corporations and Elites

Abstract

According to more than three decades of research on interorganizational networks, multiple drivers explain dynamics of corporate connectedness; however, their relative importance for network evolution remains a puzzle. This study distinguishes six dimensions of the interorganizational environment—time, industry, geography, organization, networks, and agents—and asks where, across these dimensions, more important drivers of interorganizational connectivity are located. Analysis examines four types of outcome ties—board interlocks, alliances, investor interlocks, and ties through executive migration—among the U.S. public companies in the S&P 500 in 1997–2015. The results show that the drivers of corporate connectivity are located in several dimensions of the interorganizational space, but their relative importance depends on the type of interfirm tie. While the dimension of organization is important for all types of connections, industry-related drivers matter for alliances and executive migration, geography—for board interlocks, and time is most important for investor interlocks. Surprisingly, the importance of endogenous network effects and executive officers for corporate connectivity is relatively low.

Author

• Olga A. Novoselova, University of Iowa