社会嵌入视角下的能力构建研究

在分析社会网络中不同企业的能力差异后,本文提出了以梯度转移为形式的能力构建模式。社会嵌入机制可以通过强化企业间的网络联结来提供支撑,其中结构嵌入是基于网络特性来拓展联结广度,关系嵌入则基于企业行为来增强联结深度,两者的融合会进一步促进企业的跨组织边界知识互动,以维持能力梯度转移的持续和稳定。     

Market novelty, competence-seeking and innovation networking

Studies of innovation networking have frequently been concerned with the occurrence of dyadic relationships and with their apparent impact on simple measures of firm-level innovation outputs. This paper takes a more detailed look by analyzing the connection between different types of innovation and forms of networking. Based on the market novelty of innovation outcomes and the extent to which innovation activities require new competences, four types of innovation are identified. It is proposed that these types correlate with various innovation network dimensions, including the volume of networks, the strength and content of ties, and the specificity of ties. Drawing on survey data of 594 innovations realized by Dutch small firms, it is observed that the requirement to access new competences for innovation correlates positively with the number of network partners involved. We also note more subtle connections between types of innovation and networking, including that novel innovation outputs correlate with using network partners as a source of inspiration, whilst new competences associate with networking for knowledge capital. In the latter case, these activities also draw on new and intended ties relatively often, i.e. network partners which are actively sought out for the specific contributions they may make to the innovation process. Finally, innovation which is simultaneously new-to-the market and requires new competences uses strong ties relatively often. Implications for innovation policy and practice are discussed.     

Beyond Technology Adoption: An Embeddedness Approach to Reduce Medication Errors

Medication errors are causing harm, and even death, to hospital inpatients. These preventable errors occur at the hands of the same individuals who are charged to protect and provide care to patients—health care professionals. While decision support technologies are available to assist health care providers, patients continue to experience incorrect medications, inaccurate doses/rates of medication, duplicate doses, medication interactions, and other medication errors. This article investigates the reasons that health care professionals in hospital environments underutilize medication administration technologies and argues that a fusion view can provide guidance to increase their use. A Fusion Model is developed using the concept of embeddedness, the Technology Acceptance Model, the Task-Technology-Fit Model, and drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a modern hospital in the United States. The most important findings of this research are: (1) the concept of embeddedness can be used to study and frame fusion of technology in an environment; (2) four constructs (i.e., task characteristics, technology characteristics, individual use behavior, environmental characteristics) are identified and used to describe system characteristics needed to support medication decisions; and (3) guidance is provided for design and evaluation of decision support technologies for medication administration in hospitals.     

A Blessing and a Curse: Institutional Embeddedness of Longstanding MNE Subsidiaries in Emerging Markets

This article examines the institutional strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in an emerging market, drawing attention to how longstanding foreign subsidiaries proactively negotiate their involvement with socio-political actors. We build on institutional logics to explain how MNE subsidiaries develop sustained political, cultural, and cognitive embeddedness. Using an inductive, interpretive study of four century-old Dutch MNE subsidiaries with a colonial legacy in Indonesia, we examine these three dimensions of the institutional environment, finding that local employees embedded in both the MNE and the host country sets of logics ‒ rather than expatriate managers ‒ most effectively facilitated sustained institutional embeddedness. Our findings also suggest that embedding practices in host institutional contexts and developing structures that align with host institutional expectations provided a platform for the unfolding of institutional strategies by local employees. However, MNE subsidiaries face contrasting logics between home and host country institutions, placing significant strains on MNEs’ ability to enact change.     

工作嵌入的理论思考：社会网络、匹配理论和资源理论的启发

文章在对实证研究结果进行整理和分析的基础上,借助社会网络理论、匹配理论、资源理论的研究成果,尝试明确联结、匹配、牺牲三个关键维度的内涵,区分工作内嵌入与工作外嵌入的不同作用机制,并提出未来的研究方向和建议。     

Innovation in work practices: a practice perspective

Dynamic capability theory argues that organizations' internal capabilities enable sustained competitive advantage. Innovations in work practices (commonly termed ‘high performance’, ‘high commitment’ or ‘high involvement’ practices) are an important source of these internal capabilities but research evidence shows low levels of penetration. Using a practice perspective, case study analysis of 7 establishments in the aerospace sector identifies three themes that are under-attended to in current research on innovations in work practices: industry and production context; distributed nature of management activity, and social embeddedness. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The best of both worlds: how rural entrepreneurs use placial embeddedness and strategic networks to create opportunities

Entrepreneurial activities are strongly influenced by the context in which they occur. It is therefore imperative to understand how different contexts enable entrepreneurs to create opportunities. In this paper, we focus on the spatial context of rural entrepreneurs and explore how the rural context impacts on their opportunity creation. Based on a multiple case study, we find that rural entrepreneurs mix what we refer to as placial embeddedness – an intimate knowledge of and concern for the place – with strategically built non-local networks, i.e. the best of two worlds. Notably, the entrepreneurs seek to exhaust the localized resource base before seeking out non-local resources. Our findings thus contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurship in context and challenge future research to explore how different forms of contexts are bridged in different settings to create varieties of entrepreneurial activities.     

Understanding supplier structural embeddedness: A social network perspective

Despite a significant amount of attention, the potential of supplier structural embeddedness (i.e., the value of the structural position in an extended network) to improve the performance of a buying firm remains poorly understood. This study drew on the social network theory to empirically examine a conceptual framework specifying a relationship between the efforts of a buying firm to understand supplier structural configuration and operational and financial performance. This study also examines how the comprehension of structural embeddedness is transformed into performance for a buying firm through relational embeddedness (i.e., the strength of a dyadic relationship). Survey data collected from companies in the U.S. were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicate that the understanding of the structural dimension does help to enhance operational performance of a buying firm, but it does not lead to better financial performance. Empirical evidence shows that a buying firm does improve the quality of a dyadic relationship between the buying firm and a supplier by understanding how the supplier is connected to other firms and what positional values are produced. Further, relational embeddedness is found to mediate the influence of the enhanced understanding of the structural configuration on operational performance.     

经济组织的社会嵌入与社会形塑——企业社会嵌入及其对企业范式形成的自组织机制

本文在述评社会嵌入理论的基础上,针对社会嵌入泛化和企业失范的问题,对企业社会嵌入的对象、方式、作用和意义,做了初步的设想和阐释。提出并论证了如下基本观点:企业的社会嵌入是客观存在和理性行为的统一;企业嵌入的是有自发形塑作用的具象社会和关键利益相关者网络;通过部落营销、内部化和吸纳社会规范,可以实现双方的互嵌和为社会形塑提供条件;企业嵌入后,社会会对企业产生自发的形塑作用,以外取和内化等机制和形式,来应对组织悖论和社会不确定性、使员工个体行为转化为企业的整体秩序,进而形成内外部关系和谐有序的企业范式。     

网络嵌入影响企业创新绩效的概念模型与实证分析

本文有效整合社会网络、知识获取和创新绩效三个方面的理论研究,以知识获取为中间变量,构建网络嵌入影响企业创新绩效的概念模型,探究关系型嵌入和结构型嵌入影响企业外部知识获取并进而影响创新绩效的微观机理,并通过长三角地区270家本土企业的问卷调查与结构方程模型分析,结果发现:企业通过对组织网络的关系型嵌入和结构型嵌入能够有效提高外部知识的获取效应,从而对企业的创新绩效存在显著的推动作用。在此基础上,本研究试图为本土企业如何通过网络嵌入提高知识获取能力以及创新绩效提供理论指导和对策建议。