When hubs forget, lie, and play favorites: Interpersonal network structure, information distortion, and organizational learning

Strategic Management Journal

Volumn 35, Issue 7, 2014, Pages 974-994

  Schilling, Melissa A ^a   Fang, Christina ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

exploitation; exploration; interpersonal networks; organizational learning; recombinant search; scale free networks

Indexed keywords

COMPUTER SIMULATION; NATURAL RESOURCES EXPLORATION;

EXPLOITATION; INFORMATION DISTORTION; NETWORK STRUCTURES; ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING; RECOMBINANT SEARCH; SCALE FREE NETWORKS;

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT;

EID: 84901943554     PISSN: 01432095     EISSN: 10970266     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/smj.2142     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. Amaral L, Scala A, Barthelemy M, Stanley H,. 2000. Classes of small-world networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 97 (21): 11149-11152.
2. Argote L,. 1999. Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, MA.
3. Argote L, Ingram P,. 2000. Knowledge transfer: a basis for competitive advantage in firms. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 82 (1): 150-169.
4. Argote L, McEvily B, Reagans R,. 2003. Managing knowledge in organizations: an integrative framework and review of emerging themes. Management Science 49 (4): 571-582.
5. Ashby W,. 1956. An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall: London, UK.
6. Barabási A,. 2002. Linked. Perseus Publishing: Cambridge, MA.
7. Barabási A, Albert R,. 1999. Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science 286: 509-512.
8. Barabási A, Albert R, Jeong H,. 1999. Mean-field theory for scale-free random networks. Physica A 272: 173-187.
9. Barabási A, Bonabeau E,. 2003. Scale-free networks. Scientific American 288: 60-69.
10. Beckman CM, Haunschild P,. 2002. Network learning: the effects of partners' heterogeneity of experience on corporate acquisitions. Administrative Science Quarterly 47: 92-124.
11. Borgatti S, Cross R,. 2003. A relational view of information seeking and learning in social networks. Management Science 49 (4): 432-445.
12. Bower J, Christensen C,. 1995. Disruptive technologies: catching the wave. Harvard Business Review 73 (1): 43-53.
13. Brown J, Duguid P,. 1991. Organizational learning and communities of practice: towards a unified view of working, learning and innovation. Organization Science 2: 40-57.
14. Brown SL, Eisenhardt KM,. 1995. Product development: past research, present findings, and future directions. Academy of Management Review 20: 343-378.
15. Brown SL, Eisenhardt KM,. 1997. The art of continuous change: linking complexity theory and time-paced evolution in relentlessly shifting organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly 42: 1-34.
16. Burton R, Obel B,. 1984. Designing Efficient Organizations: Modeling and Experimentation. North-Holland: Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
17. Carley K, Lin Z,. 1997. A theoretical study of organizational performance under information distortion. Management Science 43 (7): 976-997.
18. Cohen M,. 1991. Individual learning and organizational routine: emerging connections. Organization Science 2 (1): 135-139.
19. Connor K, Prahalad C,. 1996. A resource-based theory of the firm: knowledge versus opportunism. Organization Science 7: 477-501.
20. Cyert R, March J,. 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
21. Daft R,. 1983. Learning the craft of organizational research. Academy of Management Review 8 (4): 539-546.
22. Damanpour F,. 1991. Organizational innovation: a meta-analysis of effects of determinants and moderators. Academy of Management Journal 34: 555-590.
23. Davis JP,. 2010. Agency and knowledge problems in network dynamics: brokers and bridges in innovative interorganizational relationships. MIT University Working paper.
24. Dhanaraj C, Parkhe A,. 2006. Orchestrating innovation networks. Academy of Management Review 31 (3): 659-669.
25. Ebel H, Mielsch L, Bornholdt S,. 2002. Scale-free topology of e-mail networks. Physical Review E 66: 035103(R).
26. Eisner M, Wetlaufer S,. 2000. Common sense and conflict: an interview with Disney's Michael Eisner. Harvard Business Review 1: 114-124.
27. Eppler MJ, Mengis J,. 2004. The concept of information overload: a review of literature from organization science, accounting, marketing, MIS, and related disciplines. The Information Society 20: 325-344.
28. Fang C, Lee J, Schilling M,. 2010. Exploration and exploitation: the influence of subgroup structure on organizational learning. Organization Science 21 (3): 625-642.
29. Fararo T, Sunshine M,. 1964. A Study of a Biased Friendship Net. Youth Development Center and Syracuse University Press: Syracuse, New York.
30. Fleming L,. 2001. Recombinant uncertainty in technological search. Management Science 47: 117-132.
31. Gould R,. 2002. The origins of status hierarhies: a formal theory and empirical test. The American Journal of Sociology 107: 1143-1178.
32. Grant R,. 1996. Prospering in dynamically-competitive environments: organizational capability as knowledge integration. Organization Science 7: 375-387.
33. Gupta A, Smith K, Shalley C,. 2006. The interplay between exploration and exploitation. Academy of Management Journal 49: 693-706.
34. Hansen M,. 1999. The search-transfer problem: the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly 44: 82-111.
35. Holland J,. 1975. Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI.
36. Jacobides M,. 2007. The inherent limits of organizational structure and the unfulfilled role of hierarchy: lessons from a near-war. Organization Science 18: 455-477.
37. Jacoby J,. 1984. Perspective on information overload. Journal of Consumer Research 10: 432-435.
38. Kauffman S,. 1993. The Origins of Order. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK.
39. Kauffman S,. 1995. At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK.
40. Kleinbaum A, Stuart TE, Tushman ML,. 2013. Discretion within constraint: homophily and structure in a formal organization. Organization Science Forthcoming.
41. Klepper S, Thompson P,. 2010. Disagreements and intra-industry spinoffs. International Journal of Industrial Organization 28: 526-538.
42. Kogut B, Zander U,. 1996. What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning. Organization Science 7: 502-518.
43. Krackhardt D, Hanson J,. 1993. Informal networks: the company behind the chart. Harvard Business Review 71 (1): 104-111.
44. Kretschmer T, Puranam P,. 2008. Integration through incentives in differentiated organizations. Organization Science 19: 860-875.
45. Larson J, Christensen C,. 1993. Groups as problem-solving units: toward a new meaning of social cognition. British Psychological Society 32: 5-30.
46. Lawrence P, Lorsch J,. 1967. Organization and Environment. HBS Press: Boston, MA.
47. Lenox M,. 2002. Organizational design, information transfer, and the acquisition of rent-producing resources. Computation and Mathematical Organization Theory 8 (2): 113-131.
48. Levinthal D,. 1997. Adaptation on rugged landscapes. Management Science 43: 934-950.
49. Levinthal D, March J,. 1993. The myopia of learning. Strategic Management Journal 14: 95-112.
50. Lingo EL, O'Mahony S,. 2010. Nexus work: brokerage on creative products. Administrative Science Quarterly 55: 47-81.
51. Lippman S, Rumelt D,. 1982. Uncertain imitability: an analysis of interfirm differences in efficiency under competition. Bell Journal of Economics 13 (2): 418-438.
52. Malhotra NK,. 1982. Information load and consumer decision making. Journal of Consumer Research 8: 419-431.
53. March J,. 1991. Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science 2: 71-87.
54. March J,. 2004. Parochialism in the evolution of a research community: the case of organization studies. Management and Organization Review 1: 15-32.
55. McEvily B, Zaheer A,. 1999. Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities. Strategic Management Journal 20: 1133-1156.
56. Miller K, Zhao D, Calantone R,. 2006. Adding interpersonal learning and tacit knowledge to March's exploration-exploitation model. Academy of Management Journal 49: 709-722.
57. Nickerson J, Zenger T,. 2002. Being efficiently fickle: a dynamic theory of organizational choice. Organization Science 13: 547-566.
58. Nobel R, Birkinshaw JM,. 1998. Patterns of control and communication in international research and development units. Strategic Management Journal 19: 479-498.
59. O'Reilly CA,. 1980. Individuals and information overload in organizations: is more necessarily better? Academy of Management Journal 23: 684-696.
60. Puranam P, Singh H, Zollo M,. 2006. Organizing for innovation: managing the coordination-autonomy dilemma in technology acquisitions. Academy of Management Journal 49 (2): 263-280.
61. Reagans R, McEvily B,. 2003. Network structure and knowledge transfer: the effects of cohesion and range. Administrative Science Quarterly 48: 240-267.
62. Reagans R, Zuckerman E,. 2009. A shortcut to efficiency? Implications of the small but stratified world. Working paper.
63. Rivkin J,. 2000. Imitation of complex strategies. Management Science 46: 824-844.
64. Rodan S,. 2005. Exploration and exploitation revisited: extending March's model of mutual learning. Scandinavian Journal of Management 21: 407-428.
65. Rodan S,. 2008. Organizational learning: the effects of (network) structure and (individual) strategy. Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory 14: 222-247.
66. Rodan S, Galunic C,. 2004. More than network structure: how knowledge heterogeneity influences managerial performance and innovativeness. Strategic Management Journal 25: 541-562.
67. Schick AG, Gorden LA, Haka S,. 1990. Information overload: a temporal approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society 15: 199-220.
68. Siggelkow N, Levinthal D,. 2003. Temporarily divide to conquer: centralized, decentralized, and reintegrated organizational approaches to exploration and adaptation. Organization Science 14: 650-669.
69. Siggelkow N, Levinthal D,. 2005. Escaping real (non-benign) competency traps: linking the dynamics of organizational structure to the dynamics of search. Strategic Organization 3: 85-115.
70. Siggelkow N, Rivkin J,. 2005. Speed and search: designing organizations for turbulence and complexity. Organization Science 16: 101-122.
71. Sparrow PR,. 1999. Strategy and cognition: understanding the role of management structures, organizational memory and information overload. Creativity and Innovation Management 8: 140-149.
72. Stinchcombe A,. 1990. Information and Organizations. University of California Press: Berkeley, CA.
73. Tang F, Mu J, MacLachlan DL,. 2008. Implication of network size and structure on organizations' knowledge transfer. Expert Systems with Applications 34: 1109-1114.
74. Taylor A, Greve H,. 2006. Superman or the fantastic four? Knowledge combination and experience in innovative teams. Academy of Management Journal 49: 723-740.
75. Tushman M, O'Reilly C,. 1996. Ambidextrous organizations: managing evolutionary and revolutionary change. California Management Review 38: 8-30.
76. Uzzi B, Lancaster R,. 2003. The role of relationships in interfirm knowledge transfer and learning: the case of corporate debt markets. Management Science 49 (4): 383-399.
77. Wagner CS, Leydesdorff L,. 2005. Network structure, self-organization, and the growth of international collaboration in science. Research Policy 34: 1608-1619.
78. Watts D,. 2003. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. Norton: New York.
79. Watts D, Strogatz S,. 1998. Collective dynamics of 'small-world' networks. Nature 393 (6684): 409-410.
80. Xulvi-Brunet R, Sokolov I,. 2002. Evolving networks with disadvantaged long-range connections. Physical Review E 66 (2): 026118.