Social network and family business: Uncovering hybrid family firms

Burt, Ronald S.; Opper, Sonja; Zou, Na

doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2020.12.005

Cited by 17 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…At this point, it is useful to note that family contactsagainst all beliefs held in the West-are not disproportionately found in business networks in China. We have a mean of 7.4% family contacts in the sample business networks, and 66.8% of respondents do not list any family member in their business network (see Burt et al 2021, for elaboration). Interestingly, cooperation does not vary with respondent education, income, or age.…”

Section: Regression Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation Beyond the Network

Burt¹,

Opper²,

Holm³

2022

Organization Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is well known in economics, law, and sociology that reputation costs in a closed network give insiders a feeling of being protected from bad behavior in their relations with one another. A person accustomed to doing business within a closed network is, therefore, likely to feel at unusual risk when asked to cooperate beyond the network because of absent reputation-cost security. It follows that business leaders in more closed networks should be less likely to cooperate beyond their network (Hypothesis 1 ). Success reinforces the status quo. Business leaders successful with a closed network associate their success with the safety of their network, so they should be even less likely to cooperate with a stranger (Hypothesis 2 ). We combine network data from a heterogeneous area probability survey of Chinese CEOs with a behavioral measure of cooperation to show strong empirical support for the two hypotheses. CEOs in more closed networks are less likely to cooperate beyond their network, especially those running successful businesses: successful CEOs in closed networks are particularly likely to defect against people beyond their network. The work contributes to a growing literature linking network structure with behavior: here, the closure that facilitates trust and cooperation within a network simultaneously erodes the probability of cooperation beyond the network, thereby reinforcing a social boundary around the network. Taking our results as a baseline, we close sketching new research on personality, homophily, network dynamics, and variation in the meaning of “beyond the network.”

show abstract

Section: Regression Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation Beyond the Network

Burt¹,

Opper²,

Holm³

2022

Organization Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although some studies have suspected an Asian cultural contingency in the network structure-performance association (see, for instance, Xiao & Tsui, 2007), there is accumulating evidence that the association is indeed general (Batjargal, 2007a(Batjargal, , 2007b(Batjargal, , 2010bBatjargal et al, 2013;Burt & Burzynska, 2017). Further, there is no indication that the association hinges on distinct organizational forms; effects have been found to be comparable for family and non-family firms in China (Burt et al, 2021b). Finally, holding constant especially valuable ties-such as political connections-does not trump the general association between network structure and performance.…”

Section: Network Mechanisms Are Universalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social network and institution-based strategy research

Opper

2021

Asia Pac J Manag

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Almost two decades ago, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 19(2/3): 251–267 Peng (2002) called attention to the promise of institution-based strategy research. The puzzle was to explain differences in strategies around the globe. Building on the work accomplished so far, I ask: Can institution-based strategy succeed when embedded in inappropriate social networks? Institutions and networks are usually studied as separate phenomena, yet each also defines the capabilities of the other. Institutions shape social network contacts and structures because institutions define opportunities for affiliation and the relative value of distinct contacts and network structures. At the same time, social networks shape institutions and organizations’ capabilities for institutional innovation. Thus, the social network in which a manager or organization is embedded can either amplify or counteract success in implementing institution-based strategy. After I review the co-constitutional nature of institutions and networks and discuss a number of sample studies using China as a productive research site, I sketch questions that need to be answered to more tightly integrate network behavior into institutional strategy research, and discuss four emerging areas of research into how network-strategy fit affects performance: (1) network fit to adaptive strategy, (2) network fit to change strategy, (3) institutional dynamics and network-strategy fit, and (4) institutional distance and network-strategy fit.

show abstract

“…However, the functional structure of the firm as a nexus of contracts depends crucially upon the size and quality of a celebrity’s social networks. In other words, in highly differentiated and disaggregated industries, the firm as a network of contracts is also about network embedding ( Burt et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How ties of variable strength are combined in networks surrounding business families is underexplored in the literature. However, recent research suggests that variability in social networks’ openness is associated with hybridized family firms ( Burt et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Celebrity Couples as Business Families: A Social Network Perspective

Gorji

Carney

Prakash

2021

Family Business Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We depict Hollywood celebrity couples as business families who participate in the project-based movie production industry, which is a temporary and disaggregated form of organization where skilled individuals are linked to one another through contractual and social relationships. Appearing in Hollywood movies generates celebrity capital, which can be converted into economic capital through involvement in endorsements and other rent-generating activities. Finding projects is facilitated by membership in high-quality social networks, and we consider celebrity marriage as a means of merging two individuals’ social networks, which can be mutually beneficial for both parties. We develop and test three hypotheses about the quality of social networks prior to and after marriage and analyze their impact upon celebrities’ postmarriage career performance. We contribute to the family business literature by exploring hybridized and adaptive forms of business family in contemporary project industries, which has the potential to enlarge family business scholars’ research horizons.

show abstract

Social network and family business: Uncovering hybrid family firms

Cited by 17 publications

References 45 publications

Cooperation Beyond the Network

Cooperation Beyond the Network

Social network and institution-based strategy research

Celebrity Couples as Business Families: A Social Network Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About