Overcoming network overload and redundancy in interorganizational networks: the roles of potential and latent ties

Mariotti, Francesca and Delbridge, Rick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8451-265X 2012. Overcoming network overload and redundancy in interorganizational networks: the roles of potential and latent ties. Organization Science 23 (2) , pp. 511-528. 10.1287/orsc.1100.0634

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Abstract

This paper builds on Granovetter's distinction between strong and weak ties [Granovetter, M. S. 1973. The strength of weak ties. Amer. J. Sociol. 78(6) 1360–1380] in order to respond to recent calls for a more dynamic and processual understanding of networks. The concepts of potential and latent tie are deductively identified, and their implications for understanding how and why networks emerge, evolve, and change are explored. A longitudinal empirical study conducted with companies operating in the European motorsport industry reveals that firms take strategic actions to search for potential ties and reactivate latent ties in order to solve problems of network redundancy and overload. Examples are given, and their characteristics are examined to provide theoretical elaboration of the relationship between the types of tie and network evolution. These conceptual and empirical insights move understanding of the managerial challenge of building effective networks beyond static structural contingency models of optimal network forms to highlight the processes and capabilities of dynamic relationship building and network development. In so doing, this paper highlights the interrelationship between search and redundancy and the scope for strategic action alongside path dependence and structural influences on network processes.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HF Commerce T Technology > TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Network evolution ; Interorganizational ties ; Network overload ; Redundancy ; Exploration; Potential and latent ties
Publisher:	inForms
ISSN:	1047-7039
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 09:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/19728

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