The Other Side of the Network Coin: Cost Considerations of Network Structure

Annetta Fortune ()
Additional contact information
Annetta Fortune: Drexel University

Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2003, vol. 9, issue 2, No 2, 109-125

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the differential impact that inter-organizational network connections have on organizational level change. Drawing from the strategic leaning perspective on adaptation, this study investigates how the nature of inter-organizational ties among top management impact the cost and the effectiveness of an organizational level change process. To build on the existing empirical work in this area, this study employs a virtual experiment to create a controlled laboratory investigation of the hypothesized relationships among the strength, formalization, and functional equivalence of network ties; and the cost and effectiveness of an organizational change process. The findings of this study provide support for the strength of weak ties argument and structural hole theory, in addition to suggesting a caveat to Galbraith's information processing model. Furthermore, the results reveal that the tradeoff between increasing effectiveness and decreasing costs is not universally applicable across all decisions regarding network structure.

Keywords: adaptation; organizational change; networks; strategic learning perspective (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1023/B:CMOT.0000022751.56620.99 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:comaot:v:9:y:2003:i:2:d:10.1023_b:cmot.0000022751.56620.99

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10588

DOI: 10.1023/B:CMOT.0000022751.56620.99

Access Statistics for this article

Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory is currently edited by Terrill Frantz and Kathleen Carley

More articles in Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().