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Showing papers on "Embeddedness published in 2012"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that there are two interrelated problems requiring attention: the institutional embeddedness of socio-technical development processes within specific territorial spaces, and an explicit multi-scalar conception of socio technical trajectories.

883 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present meta-analytic study introduces an overall model of the relationships between job embeddedness and turnover outcomes, and found that on- the-job and off-the-job embeddedness negatively related to turnover intentions and actual turnover, after controlling for job satisfaction, affective commitment, and job alternatives.
Abstract: The present meta-analytic study introduces an overall model of the relationships between job embeddedness and turnover outcomes. Drawing on 65 independent samples (N = 42,907), we found that on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness negatively related to turnover intentions and actual turnover, after controlling for job satisfaction, affective commitment, and job alternatives. In addition, the negative relationships between on-the-job embeddedness (off-the-job embeddedness) and turnover criteria were stronger in female-dominated samples and public organizations (collectivistic countries). Finally, turnover intentions, job search behavior, and job performance fully (partially) mediated the effect of on-the-job embeddedness (off-the-job embeddedness) on actual turnover. The research and practical implications of our findings are noted, in light of study limitations and future research needs.

340 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors proposed the concept of relational work to explain economic activity, arguing that people engage in the process of differentiating meaningful social relations, marking a boundary, marking the boundary by means of names and practices, establishing a set of distinctive understandings that operate within that boundary, designate certain sorts of economic transactions as appropriate for the relation, bar other transactions as inappropriate, and adopt certain media for reckoning and facilitating economic transactions within the relation.
Abstract: My paper proposes the concept of relational work to explain economic activity. In all economic action, I argue, people engage in the process of differentiating meaningful social relations. For each distinct category of social relations, people erect a boundary, mark the boundary by means of names and practices, establish a set of distinctive understandings that operate within that boundary, designate certain sorts of economic transactions as appropriate for the relation, bar other transactions as inappropriate, and adopt certain media for reckoning and facilitating economic transactions within the relation. I call that process relational work. After identifying specific elements of a relational work approach, the paper focuses on the case of monetary differentiation. It compares a relational work theory of earmarking money with behavioral economics’ individually based mental accounting approach.

316 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine collective social entrepreneurship across a diverse range of collaborative activities including movements, alliances and markets for social good, and identify resource utilization approaches and three associated sets of activities that illustrate the work of collective social entrepreneurs.
Abstract: In this paper, we move beyond the typical focus on the role of individuals in leading social change to examine “collective social entrepreneurship”, the role multiple actors collaboratively play to address social problems, create new institutions, and dismantle outdated institutional arrangements Specifically, we examine collective social entrepreneurship across a diverse range of collaborative activities including movements, alliances and markets for social good We identify resource utilization approaches and three associated sets of activities that illustrate the work of collective social entrepreneurs—framing, convening, and multivocality Using illustrative case studies to examine the phenomenon, we highlight the capacity of collective action across sectors to create markets, institutions and organizations and, to derive success by resonating through embeddedness in broader social movements

303 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 2012-Geoforum
TL;DR: The authors investigates the impacts of globalization processes on community resilience and proposes a framework focused on a social resilience approach for understanding community resilience as the conceptual space at the intersection between economic, social and environmental capital.

266 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper investigated the influence of national culture on corporate debt maturity choice and found that firms located in countries with high uncertainty avoidance, high collectivism, high power distance, and high masculinity tend to use more short-term debt.
Abstract: We investigate the influence of national culture on corporate debt maturity choice. Based on the framework of Williamson, we argue that culture located in social embeddedness level can shape contracting environments by serving as an informal constraint that affects human actors’ incentives and choices in market exchange. We therefore expect national culture to be related to debt maturity structure after controlling for legal, political, financial, and economic institutions. Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, power distance, and masculinity) as proxies for culture, and using a sample of 114,723 firm-years from 40 countries over the 1991–2006 period, we find robust evidence that firms located in countries with high uncertainty avoidance, high collectivism, high power distance, and high masculinity tend to use more short-term debt. We interpret our results as consistent with the view that national culture helps explain cross-country variations in the maturity structure of corporate debt.

215 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the entrepreneurship orientation of ethnic minority small businesses and its antecedents and consequences, grounded in ethnic entrepreneurship theory and social entrepreneurship theory, and found that:
Abstract: Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of ethnic minority small businesses (EMSBs) and its antecedents and consequences are under-researched. Grounded in ethnic entrepreneurship theory and the social emb...

191 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify five conceptualization and measurement issues warranting additional discussion and research, namely, the composite measure vs. the global measure, community embeddedness, conceptual and measurement problems associated with links, discriminant validity issues and the cultural boundaries of JE.

187 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the role of key industry and other stakeholders and their embeddedness in particular national contexts in driving the proliferation and co-evolution of sustainability standards, based on the case of the global coffee industry.

158 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how climate change affects multinational enterprises (MNEs), focusing on the challenges they face in overcoming liabilities and filling institutional voids related to the issue, and explore MNEs' balancing act concerning their institutional embeddedness (or lack thereof) in home, host and supranational contexts as input for further research on the dynamics of MNE activities in relation to climate change.
Abstract: This paper explores how climate change affects multinational enterprises (MNEs), focusing on the challenges they face in overcoming liabilities and filling institutional voids related to the issue. Climate change is characterized by institutional failures, because there is neither an enforceable global agreement nor a market morality. Climate change is also a distinctive international business issue, as its institutional failures materialize differently in different countries. As governments are still highly involved, MNEs need to consider carefully their strategies to cope with non-market forces, including their embeddedness in multiple institutional settings. Using some illustrative examples of MNE responses to climate-related components in stimulus packages, we explore MNEs’ balancing act concerning their institutional embeddedness (or lack thereof) in home, host and supranational contexts as input for further research on the dynamics of MNE activities in relation to climate change.

146 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the social potential of regional integration by using the example of European integration and identify two forms of integration that have different speeds, scopes, and potentials: political integration and judicial integration.
Abstract: This article analyzes the social potential of regional integration pro- cesses by using the example of European integration+ Recent case law from the European Court of Justice has led some observers to argue that judicial decisions increasingly provide European politics with a " Polanyian" drive+ We test this claim by distinguishing three dimensions to European economic and social integration: market-restricting integration, market-enforcing integration, and the creation of a European area of nondiscrimination+ We also identify two forms of integration that have different speeds, scopes, and potentials: political integration and judicial inte- gration+ The evidence shows that the EU has come closer to Hayek's vision of "inter- state federalism" than is usually warranted because market-enforcing integration and European nondiscrimination policies have asymmetrically profited from "integra- tion through law+" The opportunities for international courts to push ahead market- enforcing integration increase as the participants of regional integration processes become more diverse+ In such "Hayekian" constellations, individual rights are increas- ingly relocated to the central level, at the cost of subordinating the decentralized capacity for solidarity and interpersonal redistribution+ Above all, The Great Transformation tells of the conflict between the imper- atives of a capitalist world economy and the pursuit of social welfare within nation-states+ Polanyi's account of the 1920s and 1930s analyzes the incom- patibility of international capitalist arrangements with both democracy and the social reforms that had been won by the European working classes+

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the variable extent to which domestic interest organizations seek access to the multiple venues provided by the European system of governance has been investigated in four member states (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany).
Abstract: This article describes and explains the variable extent to which domestic interest organizations seek access to the multiple venues provided by the European system of governance. A multivariate analysis of data collected in four member states—France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany—reveals substantial variance in multilevel venue shopping, differences that disconfirm some descriptive accounts reported in the Europeanization literature. Surprising is that French organizations develop extensive multilevel strategies while the strategies of Dutch organizations are rather weakly Europeanized. Our analyses offer a better understanding of the factors that stimulate domestic interest groups to seek access to European Union-level policy venues. Factors such as the nature of policy issues in which groups are involved, the group's relation with domestic parties, and overall domestic embeddedness significantly explains multilevel venue-shopping. In contrast, other factors such as policy sector or the group's resources generate little explanatory power.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of social embeddedness in creating positive perceptions of organizational support among managerial and staff employees (n=72) of a large manufacturing firm was examined, and three aspects of social embeddings were found to be associated with perceived organizational support.
Abstract: Summary We examined the role of social embeddedness in creating positive perceptions of organizational support among managerial and staff employees (n=72) of a large manufacturing firm. We operationalized social embeddedness as the size, density, and quality of employees’ networks of multiplex, reciprocated exchange relationships with colleagues. After controlling for support from supervisors and upper management, we found all three aspects of social embeddedness to be associated with perceived organizational support (POS). This research suggests that in addition to the top‐down influence of the organizational hierarchy, POS results from the organizational community within which employees are embedded through their social network in the workplace. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated whether bribery in emerging economies matters and whether such bribery has a diminishing return to performance and found that there is a hill-shaped non-monotonic relationship between bribery and revenues.
Abstract: This article investigates whether bribery in emerging economies matters and whether such bribery has a diminishing return to performance. Bribery allows entrepreneurs to develop and foster a network of informal relationships with public officials, and reap the accompanying benefits; but it may also have disadvantages, such as an inefficient allocation of resources. The relationship between bribery and performance was estimated using unique data derived from a survey of 606 Vietnamese entrepreneurs. We controlled for various entrepreneurial, organizational, and industrial characteristics. The exploratory results provide support for a hill-shaped non-monotonic relationship between bribery and revenues.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between social engagement, social statements and governance of SMEs and found that the diffusion of CSR is tied above all to the entrepreneur's values and orientation and to the company embeddedness to the local socio-economic environment.
Abstract: The study proposes to individuate the relationship between social engagement, social statements and governance of SMEs. Does an adhesion to the philosophy and to the practices of CSR, which are reflected in a firm’s mission and accountability, positively influences its governance? If so, is this influence more or less significant for SMEs with respect to large-sized firms? This paper winds itself around these questions and describes the principle findings that have emerged from a qualitative investigation focused on a selected group of “cohesive” Italian SMEs, in which their management complies with both economic and social issues. The empirical study finds that the diffusion of CSR is tied above all to the entrepreneur’s values and orientation and to the company embeddedness to the local socio-economic environment. The concluding reflections trace the features of a territorial model of socially responsible orientation centered on the best practices of SMEs who are excellent examples of “spirited businesses” and are part of a network (which includes institutions, trade associations, non-profit organizations, etc.) that contributes to the diffusion of an orientation towards CSR and to sustainability across the territory.

Posted Content
TL;DR: This paper showed that the level of capabilities available to domestic firms operating in ordinary trade is an important driver of economic growth, and that no direct gains emanate from the complexity of goods produced by either processing-trade activities or foreign firms.
Abstract: Our work contributes to the literature relating output structure and economic development by showing that growth gains from upgrading are not unconditional. Relying on data from a panel of Chinese cities, we show that the level of capabilities available to domestic firms operating in ordinary trade is an important driver of economic growth. However, no direct gains emanate from the complexity of goods produced by either processing-trade activities or foreign firms. This suggests that the sources of product upgrading matter, and that domestic embeddedness is key in order for capacity building and technology adoption to be growth enhancing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of relational work for understanding economic life was clarified by comparing the concept to similar notions used in othe... and comparing it to relational work in the context of economic life.
Abstract: This paper attempts to clarify the concept of relational work for understanding economic life as proposed by Viviana Zelizer. To do so, it first compares the concept to similar notions used in othe...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how network governance of the tourism industry-dependent Swiss Gotthard region relates to resilience to climate change by social network analysis (SNA), and argued that economic diversification and a network structure supporting stability, flexibility, and innovation increase regional resilience.
Abstract: Mountain regions and peripheral communities, which often depend on few economic sectors, are among the most exposed and sensitive to climate change. Governance of such socio-economic-ecological networks plays a strong role in determining their resilience. Social processes of governance, such as collaboration between communities, can be systematically assessed through the existence and strength of connections between actors and their embeddedness in the broader socio-economic network by social network analysis (SNA). This paper examines how network governance of the tourism industry–dependent Swiss Gotthard region relates to resilience to climate change by SNA. The paper argues that economic diversification and a network structure supporting stability, flexibility, and innovation increase regional resilience to climate change. The Gotthard network has a high diversification capability due to high cohesion and close collaboration, limited innovative capacity by the existence of only two subgroups, and considerable flexibility through the centralized structure. Main weaknesses are a low density, uneven distribution of power, and a lack of integration of some supply chain sectors into the overall network.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare two kinds of socio-technical formations: electronic financial networks and local social activist movements that are globally networked, and show that each is only partly so: financial electronic networks are subject to particular types of embeddedness and local activist organizations can benefit from novel electronic potentials for global operation.
Abstract: This article compares two kinds of socio-technical formations: electronic financial networks and local social activist movements that are globally networked. Both cut across the global/national duality and each has altered the economic and political landscapes for, respectively, financial elites and social activists. Using these two cases helps illuminate the very diverse ways in which the growth of electronic networks partially transforms existing politico-economic orderings. They are extreme cases, one marked by hypermobility and the other by physical immobility. But they show us that each is only partly so: financial electronic networks are subject to particular types of embeddedness and local activist organizations can benefit from novel electronic potentials for global operation. Financial electronic networks and electronic activism not only reveal two parallel developments associated with particular technical properties of the new interactive digital technologies, but also reveal a third, radically ...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that resource flows to entrepreneurial ventures are predicted by the total dependence between parties engaged in the creation of value; they are not predicted by dependence advantage (or disadvantage) between the parties.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the motivations and aspirations of young business owners in Uganda and show the diversity and complexity of factors underpinning the decision to set up a business and the variety of future aspirations.
Abstract: Enhancing the private sector, and especially entrepreneurship, has become a key feature of development policy in recent years. In many African countries, entrepreneurship is promoted as a way to solve the youth unemployment crisis, but little is known about the experiences of young entrepreneurs. This paper examines the motivations and aspirations of young business owners in Uganda. Drawing on qualitative data collected in Kampala, the paper shows the diversity and complexity of factors underpinning the decision to set up a business and the variety of future aspirations. The paper questions the common representation of entrepreneurs as either necessity- or opportunity-driven and discusses the widespread assumption that necessity-driven entrepreneurs in developing countries are unlikely to have growth aspirations. Adopting the notion of social embeddedness, this paper shows how entrepreneurship motivations and aspirations are closely intertwined with changes in the socio-economic environment, social networ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results suggest that increases in perceptions of organizational and community embeddedness are associated with increases in work- to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict over time, and these effects were even stronger for employees with highly individualistic values.
Abstract: The present study offers competing hypotheses regarding the relationships of changes in organizational and community embeddedness with changes in work-to-family and family-to-work conflict. Data were collected from 250 U.S. and 165 Chinese managers and professionals, all of whom were married, at 3 points in time over a 10-month period. Results suggest that increases in perceptions of organizational and community embeddedness are associated with increases in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict over time. Further, we found that these effects were even stronger for employees with highly individualistic values. Thus, although much of the previous research has focused on the positive effects of employee embeddedness for individuals' work lives, the present study provides some evidence of the potentially negative effects of employee embeddedness for individuals' family lives.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate Granovetter's "strength of weak ties" hypothesis in an informal African urban economy and show that both strength of ties and proportion of business ties have a significant positive impact on economic outcomes.
Abstract: This paper investigates Granovetter's “strength of weak ties” hypothesis in an informal African urban economy. It outlines an approach articulated around the reticular embeddedness conceptual framework associated with the notion of “ego-centred network.” The content of ties in an entrepreneur's network is described by three salient dimensions: strength, social role and exchanged resources. We use an original dataset collected in the informal economy of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) to evaluate how the content and strength of ties influence entrepreneurs' economic outcomes. The instrument of multiple name generators provides a vast amount of information that can be used to compute quantitative measures of the composition of networks. We show that both strength of ties and proportion of business ties have a significant positive impact on economic outcomes. It reveals the importance for small urban informal entrepreneurs to draw on both embedded social relations and more autonomous ones.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors bring together two sociological traditions: experimental research on how different forms of exchange affect attachment to partners and relationships, and organizational research in natural settings on how embeddedness contributes to social capital.
Abstract: In this study we bring together two sociological traditions: experimental research on how different forms of exchange affect attachments to partners and relationships, and organizational research in natural settings on how embeddedness contributes to social capital. We conceptualize embeddedness in terms of the underlying forms of exchange—negotiated and reciprocal—that are associated with economic exchanges and the social relationships in which they are embedded. Building upon the reciprocity theory of social exchange, we test predictions of how relationship histories (i.e., different sequences of the two forms of exchange) and relationship contexts (i.e., embedding one form of exchange within an ongoing relation of the other form) modify effects of each form in isolation. Results from two experiments show that the reciprocal form of exchange, independent of close ties or personal associations, is critical for producing the strong trust and affective bonds typically associated with embedded relationships...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: High quality of work life perceived by the nurses enhances their job embeddedness and affective commitment and thus reduces their intention to leave the job, and the hypothesised positive relation of quality ofWork life with job embeddeds and affectives and negative on turnover intention are confirmed.
Abstract: Aims and objectives. To verify with empirical evidence the hypothesised relation and the effect of quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment on turnover intention of clinical nurses in China. Background. High turnover of the nursing workforce in healthcare organisations is a difficult and recurring problem in China as well as in many other countries in the world. It leads to great waste of resources and increases management cost. Developing and retaining the nursing workforce, which is a major challenge faced by human resources practitioners in hospitals and public health agencies, also becomes a subject of interest for management studies. Most of the literature about voluntary turnover focused on such traditional measures as job satisfaction and job alternatives in the past. The introduction of such new concepts as quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment, which views the issue from a much broader and comprehensive spectrum, made a great breakthrough in the turnover study. In this study, we selected quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment – three of the most important factors in employer–employee relations – and analysed the interaction between each one of them, as well as their co-effect on turnover intention of Chinese nurses. Methods. Cross-sectional survey and structural equation modelling were applied in studying the self-report questionnaires distributed to 1000 nurses employed in five large-scale government-owned hospitals in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. Findings. Our study confirmed the hypothesised positive relation of quality of work life with job embeddedness and affective commitment and the hypothesised negative relation of quality of work life with turnover intention, that is, high quality of work life perceived by the nurses enhances their job embeddedness and affective commitment and thus reduces their intention to leave the job. Conclusions. The effect of quality of work life is positive on job embeddedness and affection commitment and negative on turnover intention. Relevance to clinical practice. Nurse managers should pay great attention to the nurses' perception of quality of work life, and make great efforts in developing strategies and projects that can strengthen the nurses' embeddedness or connection with the job.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework is developed that analyzes the embeddedness of organizational ethical leadership and identifies manifest and latent contextual factors on three different levels of analysis -society, industry, and organization - which can affect the development and maintenance of ethical leadership.
Abstract: The present paper gives a review of empirical research on ethical leadership and shows that still little is known known about the contextual antecedents of ethical leadership. To address this important issue, a conceptual framework is developed that analyzes the embeddedness of organizational ethical leadership. This framework identifies manifest and latent contextual factors on three different levels of analysis - society, industry, and organization - which can affect the development and maintenance of ethical leadership. In particular, propositions are offered about how (1) societal characteristics, notably the implementation and the spirit of human rights in a society and societal cultural values of responsibility, justice, humanity, and transparency; (2) industry characteristics such as environmental complexity, the content of the organizational mandate, and the interests of stakeholder networks; and (3) intra-organizational characteristics, including the organizational ethical infrastructure and the ethical leadership behavior of a leader's peer group, influence the development and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations. This list of factors is not exhaustive, but illustrates how the three levels may impact ethical leadership. Implications for managerial practice and future research are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and relational embeddedness on trust associated with e-marketplace providers and found that perceived ease-of-use positively influences perceived usefulness and relational embedness positively influences user trust.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility and locality in the small business context by studying the interplay between small businesses and local community based on the embeddedness literature and using the concept of social proximity.
Abstract: This article examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility and locality in the small business context. This issue is addressed by studying the interplay between small businesses and local community based on the embeddedness literature and using the concept of social proximity. On the basis of 25 thematic interviews with owner-managers a typology is constructed which illustrates the owner-managers’ perceptions of the relationship between the business and the local community. The findings emphasize the importance of reciprocity as it is suggested that corporate social responsibility in relation to locality is constructed as a response to the interpretations of reciprocal community support between small business owner-managers and local community.