Showing papers on "Embeddedness published in 2013"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how hybrid organizations, which incorporate competing institutional logics, internally manage the logics that they embody, and identify a specific hybridization pattern that they refer to as "Trojan horse", whereby organizations that entered the work integration field with low legitimacy because of their embeddedness in the commercial logic strategically incorporated elements from the social welfare logic in an attempt to gain legitimacy and acceptance.
Abstract: This article explores how hybrid organizations, which incorporate competing institutional logics, internally manage the logics that they embody. Relying on an inductive comparative case study of four work integration social enterprises embedded in competing social welfare and commercial logics, we show that, instead of adopting strategies of decoupling or compromising, as the literature typically suggests, these organizations selectively coupled intact elements prescribed by each logic. This strategy allowed them to project legitimacy to external stakeholders without having to engage in costly deceptions or negotiations. We further identify a specific hybridization pattern that we refer to as "Trojan horse," whereby organizations that entered the work integration field with low legitimacy because of their embeddedness in the commercial logic strategically incorporated elements from the social welfare logic in an attempt to gain legitimacy and acceptance. Surprisingly, they did so more than comparable organizations originating from the social welfare logic. These findings suggest that, when lacking legitimacy in a given field, hybrids may manipulate the templates provided by the multiple logics in which they are embedded in an attempt to gain acceptance. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of how organizations can survive and thrive when embedded in pluralistic institutional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
1,546 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make a case for examining energy transition as a geographical process, involving the reconfiguration of current patterns and scales of economic and social activity, and provide a conceptual language with which to describe and assess the geographical implications of a transition towards low carbon energy.
945 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a framework for conceptualizing the complexity of the context that frames international and global exchange systems, and apply a service ecosystems approach, which is grounded in service-dominant logic and its foundational premise that service is the basis of all exchange.
Abstract: To strengthen the theoretical foundations of international marketing (IM), the authors propose a framework for conceptualizing the complexity of the context that frames international and global exchange systems. In particular, they apply a service ecosystems approach, which is grounded in service-dominant logic and its foundational premise that service is the basis of all exchange. The proposed framework provides insight into the nature of context, a distinguishing feature of IM. The authors argue that the embeddedness of social networks and the multiplicity of institutions within a service ecosystem influence the complexity of context. They articulate the way the (co)creation of value influences and is influenced by the enactment of practices and the integration of resources through various levels (micro, meso, and macro) of interaction and institutions. They introduce the concept of “value in cultural context” to emphasize the influence of the symbolic and social components of context. The arti...
383 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors integrate institutional theory and research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive.
Abstract: This study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals regarding appropriate corporate activity. We integrate institutional theory and research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and (b) how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive. First, we examine how firm characteristics reflecting dependence on the government — including private versus state ownership, executives serving on political councils, political legacy, and financial resources — affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Second, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of government monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and local government institutional development influences the extent to which CSR communications are symbolically decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the approximately 1,600 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2006 and 2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing (a) the importance of government signaling as a mechanism of political influence, (b) how different types of dependency on the government expose firms to different types of legitimacy pressures, and (c) that firms face a decoupling risk which leads them to be more likely to enact substantive actions in situations where they are likely to be monitored.
314 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that relationships are important mechanisms through which socialization tactics influence commitment and turnover in new hire recruitment and retention, and they find that new hire perceive their relationship with the organization as supportive, caring, and entailing positive social exchanges and become embedded within the organization.
Abstract: Summary
Retention of new hires is a critical issue for organizations. We propose that relationships are important mechanisms through which socialization tactics influence commitment and turnover. The key theoretical mechanisms connecting socialization tactics to turnover in our model are the extent to which newcomers perceive their relationship with the organization as supportive, caring, and entailing positive social exchanges and the extent to which newcomers become embedded within the organization. We collected longitudinal data from over 500 employees over the first year of employment. Consistent with our hypotheses, socialization tactics influence perceived organizational support (POS) and job embeddedness, and POS and embeddedness both relate to organizational commitment and voluntary turnover. Results support POS and embeddedness as relational mechanisms that bind employees to the organization as a result of socialization tactics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
310 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the relationship between embeddedness in a gang, a type of deviant network, and desistance from gang membership over a five-year period from 226 adjudicated youth reporting gang membership at the baseline interview.
Abstract: Objectives. Drawing from social network and life-course frameworks, the authors extend Hagan’s concept of criminal embeddedness to embeddedness within gangs. This study explores the relationship between embeddedness in a gang, a type of deviant network, and desistance from gang membership. Method. Data were gathered over a five-year period from 226 adjudicated youth reporting gang membership at the baseline interview. An item response theory model is used to construct gang embeddedness. The authors estimate a logistic hierarchical linear model to identify whether baseline levels of gang embeddedness alter the longitudinal contours of gang membership. Results. Gang embeddedness is associated with slowing the rate of desistance from gang membership over the full five-year study period. Gang members with low levels of embeddedness leave the gang quickly, crossing a 50 percent threshold in six months after the baseline interview, whereas high levels of embeddedness delays similar reductions until about two ye...
237 citations
TL;DR: A new classification of electronic word-of-mouth is proposed and the perspective of network embeddedness is applied to explore antecedents of intention in online group-buying, broadening the applicability of electronicWord- of-mouth and embeddedness theory.
198 citations
TL;DR: The relationships between social movements and civil society on the one hand and the corporate world on the other hand are often shaped by conflict over the domination of economic, cultural and social life as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The relationships between social movements and civil society on the one hand, and the corporate world on the other hand, are often shaped by conflict over the domination of economic, cultural and social life. How this conflict plays out, in current as well as in historical times and places, is the central question that unites the papers in this special issue. In this essay, we review the differences and points of contact between the study of social movements, civil society and corporations, and offer an agenda for future research at this intersection that also frames the papers in the special issue. We suggest that three research areas are becoming increasingly important: the blurring of the three empirical domains and corresponding opportunities for theoretical integration, the institutional and cultural embeddedness of strategic interaction processes between agents, and the consequences of contestation and collaboration. The papers in this special issue are introduced in how they speak to these questions.
189 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a political economic understanding of community-supported agriculture (CSA) and introduced a framework that relates CSA farmers' earnings to the average rate of profit, economic rents, and self-exploitation.
Abstract: In this article I develop a political economic understanding of community-supported agriculture (CSA). I first develop the relevance of three concepts—economic rents, self-exploitation, and social embeddedness—to CSA and then introduce a framework that relates CSA farmers’ earnings to the average rate of profit, economic rents, and self-exploitation. I then examine qualitative and quantitative data from a study of 54 CSAs in California’s Central Valley and surrounding foothills to explain the wide range of farmers’ earnings in relation to the characteristics of production of CSAs, the social embeddedness of CSAs, and the farmers’ motivations and rationalities. Qualitative data from interviews are used to interpret the results of an ordinary least squares regression analysis showing that (1) farmers’ age, number of employees, and type of CSA strongly shape farmers’ earnings; (2) the moral economy of CSA cuts both ways economically, allowing for the capture of economic rents but more often resulting...
184 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify four continua that are of specific relevance for industrial firms transforming toward solution business models: customer embeddedness, offering integratedness, operational adaptiveness, and organizational networkedness.
169 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that as a baseline outside successors enhance firm profitability because of the large-scale and rapid changes in emerging markets, however, this outsider premium is reduced in firms embedded in family and business group relationships, where family and inside successors can better access network resources.
Abstract: We examine how leadership transition affects firm performance in emerging economies. Building upon the social embeddedness and neo-institutional perspectives, we argue for the importance of alignment between successor origin and social context for firm performance. We suggest that as a baseline outside successors enhance firm profitability because of the large-scale and rapid changes in emerging markets. However, this outsider premium is reduced in firms embedded in family and business group relationships, where family and inside successors can better access network resources. But the outsider premium is amplified in firms embedded in a mature market-based logic, such as high tech or foreign invested firms, because the perceived legitimacy of outsiders facilitates resource acquisition. Our arguments are supported through the analysis of Taiwanese listed firms between 1996 and 2005. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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04 Feb 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of individual academics' research impacts was conducted in three European cities, namely, the University in the City, the City in the University and the University of Sheffield.
Abstract: 1. Introduction Part I 2. The University in the City I: Place and community 3. The University in the City II: Economic impacts 4. Universities, Innovation and Economic Development 5. City Social and Economic Development: Drivers and barriers to university engagement in three European cities Part II 6. Higher Education and Cities in the UK 7. Universities, Sustainability and Urban Development 8. Universities and Health: Institutional relationships in the city 9. Universities and the Cultural Sector of Cities 10. The Embeddedness of Universities in the City and the City in the University Appendix A: Interviews Appendix B: Findings from a survey of individual academics' research impacts
TL;DR: The results indicate that the external embeddedness of the MNC is an antecedent to headquarters' value creation and it is found that headquarters' investments into their own relationships with the subsidiaries' contexts are positively related to the value added by headquarters.
Abstract: What determines the value an MNC's headquarters adds to its own affiliates? In this paper, we shed light on this question by linking the embeddedness view of the multinational corporation to the literature on parenting advantage. We test our hypotheses on an original dataset of 124 manufacturing subsidiaries located in Europe. Our results indicate that the external embeddedness of the MNC is an antecedent to headquarters' value creation. We find that headquarters' investments into their own relationships with the subsidiaries' contexts are positively related to the value added by headquarters. Furthermore, this relationship is stronger when the subsidiary itself is strongly embedded. We discuss implications for the MNC literature, embeddedness research, and the literature on parenting and headquarters' roles. (authors' abstract)
TL;DR: The authors show that the odds of a new friendship nomination were 1.77 times greater within clusters of high school students taking courses together than between them, giving the clusters social salience as “local positions.”
Abstract: Although research on social embeddedness and social capital confirms the value of friendship networks, little has been written about how social relations form and are structured by social institutions. Using data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement study and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors show that the odds of a new friendship nomination were 1.77 times greater within clusters of high school students taking courses together than between them. The estimated effect cannot be attributed to exposure to peers in similar grade levels, indirect friendship links, or pair-level course overlap, and the finding is robust to alternative model specifications. The authors also show how tendencies associated with status hierarchy inhering in triadic friendship nominations are neutralized within the clusters. These results have implications for the production and distribution of social capital within social systems such as schools, giving the clusters social salience as ...
TL;DR: It is argued that differences in institutional logics lead brokerage positions to exert different effects on firm innovativeness, and it is proposed that the firm spanning structural holes obtains the greatest innovation benefits when the firm the broker or its alliance partners are based in highly corporatist countries, or under certain combinations of broker and partner corporatism.
Abstract: Plentiful research suggests that embeddedness in alliance networks influences firms’ innovativeness. This research, however, has mostly overlooked the fact that interorganizational ties are themselves embedded within larger institutional contexts that can shape the effects of networks on organizational outcomes. We address this gap in the literature by arguing that national institutions affect the extent to which specific network positions, such as brokerage, influence innovation. We explore this idea in the context of corporatism, which fosters an institutional logic of collaboration that influences the broker’s ability to manage its partnerships and recombine the knowledge residing in its network as well as the extent of knowledge flows among network participants. We argue that differences in institutional logics lead brokerage positions to exert different effects on firm innovativeness. We propose that the firm spanning structural holes obtains the greatest innovation benefits when the firm the broker or its alliance partners are based in highly corporatist countries, or under certain combinations of broker and partner corporatism. We find support for these ideas through a longitudinal study of cross-border fuel cell technology alliance networks involving 109 firms from nine countries between 1981 and 2001.
TL;DR: In this article, the role of trust as an enabler and constraint between buyers and suppliers engaged in long-term relationships is explored, and two cases where trust development processes demonstrate a paradox of trust-building behaviors cultivate different outcomes constraining value co-creation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the simultaneous effects of different dimensions of network embeddedness over time at individual level, including the establishment of direct ties, the strengths of these ties, as well as the density, structural holes, centrality, and cross-disciplinary links.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an alternative approach that focuses on an exploration of links between disaggregated variables, which can then be the basis for imagining new national-institutional configurations affecting aspects of CSR.
Abstract: Academic literature recognizes that firms in different countries deal with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in different ways. Because of this, analysts presume that variations in national-institutional arrangements affect CSR practices. Literature, however, lacks specificity in determining, first, what parts of national political-economic configurations actually affect CSR practices; second, the precise aspects of CSR affected by national-institutional variables; third, how causal mechanisms between national-institutional framework variables and aspects of CSR practices work. Because of this the literature is not able to address to what extent CSR practices are affected by either global or national policies, discourses and economic pressures; and to what extent CSR evolves as either an alternative to or an extension of national-institutional arrangements. This article proposes an alternative approach that focuses on an exploration of links between disaggregated variables, which can then be the basis for imagining new national-institutional configurations affecting aspects of CSR. It illustrates this approach with an exploration of the importance of development aid policy for CSR practices in global supply chains.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine linkages and tensions at the intersection between commercial dynamics of dominant firms and their societal embeddedness in diverse localities of consumption and production and compare two campaigns, one adversarial, the other collaborative, on corporate purchasing practices pursued by smaller, women-oriented NGOs to improve working conditions of a feminised labour force in fruit and garment GPNs.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a processual perspective by asking how students become geographically mobile and perceive studying abroad not as the result of a one-time choice but as the outcome of different long-term biographical and social processes and events.
Abstract: A recurring question with regard to international student mobility/migration is why students go abroad. Most often, this question is answered by pointing out different factors, such as the students' stated reasons for going abroad, specific psychological traits, or differences in economic and social capital. This paper, however, takes a processual perspective by asking how students become geographically mobile, thus perceiving studying abroad not as the result of a one-time choice but as the outcome of different long-term biographical and social processes and events. The analysis is based on narrative biographical interviews with German degree mobile students who went abroad to another European country. By focusing on how previous mobility experiences, the students' social embeddedness, and the structuring force of the order and timing of events all further the occurrence of student mobility, this paper highlights crucial aspects of this process. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that under conditions of uncertainty, expectations are contingent and should be understood as "fictional expectations" which are grounded in the capability of humans to imagine future states of the world that can be different from the present.
Abstract: Political economy and economic sociology have developed in relative isolation from each other. While political economy focuses largely on macro phenomena, economic sociology focuses on the embeddedness of economic action. The article argues that economic sociology can provide a microfoundation for political economy beyond rational actor theory and behavioral economics. At the same time political economy offers a unifying research framework for economic sociology with its focus on the explanation of capitalist dynamics. The sociological microfoundation for understanding of capitalist dynamics should focus on the expectations actors have regarding future states of the world. Based on a discussion of what I call the four Cs of capitalism (credit, commodification, creativity, and competition), I argue that under conditions of uncertainty, expectations are contingent and should be understood as "fictional expectations." The capability of humans to imagine future states of the world that can be different from the present is the central basis for a sociological microfoundation of the dynamics of economic macro phenomena. Macroeconomic dynamics are anchored in these "fictional expectations," which create motifs for engaging in potentially profitable but ultimately incalculable outcomes. This shifts attention to the "management of expectations" as a crucial element of economic activity and to the institutional, political, and cultural foundations of expectations. The reproduction of capitalism is precarious also because of the contingency of expectations conducive to its growth.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how perceived supervisor embeddedness relates to employees' own affect toward, attachment to, and behavior within the firm and found that perceived supervisor embedness was directly related to employees own embeddedness over time.
Abstract: Guided by social information processing theory, this study examines how perceived supervisor embeddedness relates to employees’ own affect toward, attachment to, and behavior within the firm. Data were collected from 338 employees at 3 points in time over a 10-month period. The results supported the proposed model in 3 key ways. First, perceived supervisor embeddedness was directly related to employees’ own embeddedness over time. Second, organizational trust mediated the relationship between perceived supervisor embeddedness and employees’ own embeddedness over time. Third, organizational trust and employee embeddedness were both related to employees’ voice behavior over time.
TL;DR: This article 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.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate factors that influence family business owners' choice between passing ownership within the family or to new external owners, and hypothesize that ownership dispersion, number of potential heirs, multigenerational involvement, and whether the chief executive officer is a family member influence the choice of an internal or external transition of ownership.
Abstract: We investigate factors that influence family business owners' choice between passing ownership within the family or to new external owners. Taking an embeddedness perspective focusing on owner-family structure and involvement, we hypothesize that ownership dispersion, number of potential heirs, multigenerational involvement, and whether the chief executive officer is a family member influence the choice of an internal or external transition of ownership. We build a longitudinal data set from a sample of 3,829 family firms and their ownership transitions. Our theorizing and findings regarding ownership transitions complements the abundant research on management succession and therefore constitutes an important contribution to the literature.
TL;DR: In this paper, a second-hand trade network is investigated and the societal, network and territorial embeddedness of GPNs are investigated illuminating how there are coordinated and non-integrated patterns of trade.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that it is perhaps fitting that Polanyi's presences in economic geography can be traced back to his evocative notion of social embeddedness.
Abstract: Karl Polanyi has been an influential but also somewhat elusive figure in economic geography. Best known for his evocative notion of social embeddedness, it is perhaps fitting that Polanyi's presenc...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors integrate insights from family business and organizational ecology into the entrepreneurship field by constructing a theoretical framework that explains how the regional context impacts family and non-family start-ups in differing ways.
Abstract: We integrate insights from family business and organizational ecology into the entrepreneurship field by constructing a theoretical framework that explains how the regional context impacts family and non-family start-ups in differing ways. Regional count data models based on a rich longitudinal dataset reveal that while economic factors such as population size and growth in regions are primarily associated with the number of non-family start-ups, factors related to regional embeddedness, such as pre-existing small family businesses as well as favorable community attitudes toward small businesses, are more strongly associated with the number of family start-ups. Our research provides support for the notion that ‘the regional context’ is an important yet under-theorized area for research on venture creation and family business.
TL;DR: Despite evidence that embedded ties are important to entrepreneurs seeking low-cost resources, no research to date has explored how this relationship unfolds in the context of emerging organizations as mentioned in this paper, and no research study has explored the relationship between embedded ties and organizational structure.
Abstract: Despite evidence that embedded ties are important to entrepreneurs seeking low–cost resources, no research to date has explored how this relationship unfolds in the context of emerging organization...
TL;DR: The results suggest that the embeddedness of continuity practices in an organisation has perceived business impacts whereas, in contradiction of previous theory, there is no such direct relation in the case of organisational alertness and preparedness.
TL;DR: Concerns about fraud have been of practical significance for as long as written records have been kept, and indeed may be a significant reason for the development of writing and record keeping.
Abstract: Concerns about fraud have been of practical significance for as long as written records have been kept, and indeed may be a significant reason for the development of writing and record keeping (Basu and Waymire, 2006 and Ezzamel, 2012). Much of the fraud literature starts with a recitation of infamous accounting (Clikeman, 2009) and corporate scandals and frauds (Punch, 1996), and these often excite public interest and concern. Concern with fraud and white collar crime affects public confidence in institutions as diverse as stock markets, auditors, bankers, corporate executives and government (Sanders & Hamilton, 1997). Various corporate, social and political scandals, fraud and corruption in government, and the fraudulent practices in politics, financial institutions, corporations, NGOs and religious institutions impact the legitimacy of such institutions. It also impacts how economic, political and social life is organized, and our attitudes and policies toward innovation, entrepreneurship and compliance to rules and law (Snider, 2000). Yet we also know that there is much moral ambiguity in life and managers (and accountants) spend much of their life in ‘moral mazes’ (Jackal, 1988), negotiating and making sense of everyday fraud and wrongdoing.