Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Behavioral Decision-Making and Network Dynamics: A Political Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Behavioral Issues in Operations Management

  • 2093 Accesses

Abstract

The blurring of organizational boundaries and the adoption of networks as a prominent form of governance have largely contributed to reinforcing interdependence between internal and external organizational networks as well as between formal and informal ties. This chapter tries to broaden existing theoretical models in order to explain the behavioral decision-making process of the firm and how it is shaped by the complex and interactive dynamics of these networks. The theoretical perspective employed in the chapter suggests that a firm’s behavior is influenced by organizational politics. Although this actually does not constitute a fresh perspective within organizational and management studies, in this chapter it is revamped and widened in light of the mentioned changes within and across firms’ organizational boundaries. The starting point of our discussion is March’s seminal work (March in Journal of Politics 24(4):662–678, 1962) and his model of “the business firm as a political coalition”. Subsequently, drawing also on later organizational politics literature we show the limits and opportunities of adopting such an imagery not only for the traditional business firm but also for the contemporary network organization: through it we can improve our understanding of how organizational boundaries are defined today, why company leaders choose the strategies they choose, and how and why those strategies are (or are not) implemented. In order to explain patterns of organizational behavior in a world of blurred-but existent firm boundaries we finally draw on a more recent sociological literature on social movements that also highlights for “patterns of mobilization distinct from both lines of formal authority and the personal ties of informal organization” (Clemens, Where Do We Stand? Common Mechanisms in Organizations and Social Movements Research, in Davis G, McAdam D, Scott WR, Zald M (eds) Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 356, 2005). Indeed, such a literature recognized the central role of networks, their evolutionary dynamics, and interactions between the internal and the external and between the formal and the informal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • A. Arora, A. Fosfuri, A. Gambardella, Markets for Technology: The Economics of Innovation and Corporate Strategy (MIT Press, Cambridge, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Azoulay, Agents of embeddedness, NBER Working Paper 10142 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • S.R. Barley, G. Kunda, Design and devotion: surges of rational and normative ideologies of control in managerial discourse. Adm. Sci. Q. 37(3), 363–399 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C.A. Bartlett, S. Goshal, Beyond the M-form: toward a managerial theory of the firm. Strateg. Manag. J. 14, 23–46 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Benford, An insider’s critique of the social movement framing perspective. Sociol. Inq. 67, 49–430 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • R.D. Benford, D.A. Snow, Framing processes and social movements: an overview and assessment. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 26, 611–639 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Beyer, R. Dunbar, A. Meyer, The concept of ideology in organizational analysis. Acad. Manag. Rev. 13(1), 483–489 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  • J.L. Bower, Managing the Resource Allocation Process: A Study of Corporate Planning and Investment, 2nd edn. (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • J.L. Bower, Y. Doz, Strategy formulation: a social and political process, in Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning, ed. by D.E. Schendel, C.W. Hofer (Little Brown, Boston, 1979), pp. 152–166

    Google Scholar 

  • R.A. Burgelman, A process model of internal corporate venturing in the diversified major firm. Adm. Sci. Q. 28(2), 223–244 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.A. Burgelman, Fading memories: a process theory of strategic business exit in dynamic environments. Adm. Sci. Q. 39(1), 24–56 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.L. Campbell, Where do we stand? Common mechanisms in organizations and social movements research, in Social Movements and Organization Theory, ed. by G. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, M. Zald (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005), pp. 41–68

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • B. Carruthers, B. Uzzi, Economic sociology in the new millennium. Contemp. Sociol. 29(3), 486–494 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Clemens, Two kinds of stuff: the current encounter of social movements and organizations, in Social Movements and Organization Theory, ed. by G. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, M. Zald (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005), pp. 351–366

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • R. Cross, S. Borgatti, A. Parker, Making invisible work visible. Calif. Manag. Rev. 44(2), 25–46 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.M. Cyert, J.G. March, A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963)

    Google Scholar 

  • G.F. Davis, T.A. Thompson, A social movement perspective on corporate control. Adm. Sci. Q. 39(1), 141–173 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G.F. Davis, D. McAdam, Corporations, classes and social movements after managerialism. Res. Organ. Behav. 22, 195–238 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Davis, M. Zald, Social change, social theory, and the convergence of movements and organizations, in Social Movements and Organization Theory, ed. by G. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, M. Zald (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005), pp. 335–350

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • G. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott (eds.), Social movements and organization theory, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Diani, Introduction: social movements, contentious actions, and social networks: ‘from metaphor to substance’?, in Social Movements and Networks, ed. by M. Diani, D. McAdam (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003), pp. 1–18

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • P.J. DiMaggio, Constructing an organizational field as a professional project: U.S. Art Museums, 1920–1940, in The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, ed. by W.W. Powell, P.J. DiMaggio (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1991), pp. 267–292

    Google Scholar 

  • P. DiMaggio, The Twenty-First-Century Firm: Changing Economic Organization in International Perspective (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • P.J. DiMaggio, W.W. Powell, The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Am. Sociol. Rev. 48(2), 147–160 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.H. Dyer, Specialized supplier networks as a source of competitive advantage: evidence from the auto industry. Strateg. Manag. J. 17(4), 271–291 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.H. Dyer, K. Nobeoka, Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge sharing network: the Toyota case. Strateg. Manag. J. 21(3), 345–367 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • B. Edwards, J.D. McCarthy, Resources and social movement mobilization, in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, ed. by D.A. Snow, S.A. Soule, H. Kriesi (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • U. Elg, U. Johansson, Decision making in inter-firm networks as a political process. Organ. Stud. 18(3), 361–384 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • N. Fligstein, I. Maria-Drita, How to make a market: reflections on the attempt to create a single market in the European Union. Am. J. Sociol. 102(1), 1–33 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Gadrey, G. Gallouj, Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge in Services: New Economic and Socio-economic Approaches (Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • W.A. Gamson, The Strategy of Social Protest (Dorsey, Homewood, 1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Goffman, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of the Experience (Harper Colophon, New York, 1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Gavetti, D.A. Levinthal, The strategy field from the perspective of management science: divergent strands and possible integration, Management Science 50(10), 1309–1318 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Granovetter, Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. Am. J. Sociol. 91(3), 481–510 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Gulati, M. Gargiulo, Where do interorganizational networks come from? Am. J. Sociol. 104(5), 1439–1493 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Hagedoorn, G. Duysters, Learning in dynamic inter-firm networks: the efficacy of multiple contacts. Organ. Stud. 23(4), 525–548 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.T. Hansen, J.M. Podolny, J. Pfeffer, So many ties, so little time: a task contingency perspective on corporate social capital in organizations, in Social Capital of Organizations, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 18, ed. by M. Lounsbury (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, 2001), pp. 21–57

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • C. Hardy, Understanding power: bringing about strategic change. Br. J. Manag. 7, S3–S16 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. Hardy, N. Phillips, T.B. Lawrence, Resources, knowledge and influence: the organizational effects of interorganizational collaboration. J. Manag. Stud. 40(2), 321–347 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. Hedlund, A model of knowledge management and he N-form corporation. Strateg. Manag. J. 15(S2), 73–90 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Helper, J.P. MacDuffie, C. Sabel, Pragmatic collaborations: advancing knowledge while controlling opportunism. Ind. Corp. Change 9(3), 443–488 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. Herrigel, Emerging strategies and forms of governance in the components industry in high wage regions. Ind. Innov. 11(1/2), 45–79 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. Jones, W. Hesterly, S. Borgatti, A general theory of network governance: exchange conditions and social mechanisms. Acad. Manag. Rev. 22(4), 911–945 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Kaplan, Framing contests: strategy making under uncertainty. Organ. Sci. 19(5), 729–752 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D. Krackhardt, Assessing the political landscape: structure, cognition, and power in organizations. Adm. Sci. Q. 35, 342–369 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P.H. Kristensen, J. Zeitlin, Local Players in Global Games: The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • R.N. Langlois, The vanishing hand: the changing dynamics of industrial capitalism. Ind. Corp. Change 12(2), 297–313 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • H. Leblebici, G.R. Salancik, Stability in interorganizational exchanges: rulemaking processes of the Chicago Board of Trade. Adm. Sci. Q. 27(3), 227–242 (1982)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Lerner, J. Tirole, Some simple economics of open source. J. Ind. Econ. 50(2), 197–234 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • N. Levina, W. Orlikowski, Understanding shifting power relations within and across organizations: a critical genre analysis. Acad. Manag. J. 52(4), 672–703 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. Lorenzoni, A. Lipparini, The leveraging of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organizational capability: a longitudinal study. Strateg. Manag. J. 20(4), 317–338 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. MacKenzie, From networks to hierarchies: the construction of a subcontracting regime in the Irish Telecommunications Industry. Organ. Stud. 29(6), 867–886 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • J. March, The business firm as a political coalition. J. Politics 24(4), 662–678 (1962)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. March, H.A. Simon, Organizations (Wiley, New York, 1958)

    Google Scholar 

  • D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, Organizations and movements, in Social Movements and Organization Theory, ed. by G. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, M. Zald (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005), pp. 4–40

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy, M.N. Zald, Introduction: opportunities, mobilizing structures, and framing processes—toward a synthetic, comparative perspective on social movements, in Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings, ed. by D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy, M.N. Zald (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), pp. 1–20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • W. Mckinley, M.A. Mone, V.L. Barker III, Some ideological foundations of organizational downsizing. J. Manag. Inq. 7(3), 198–212 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • I. McLoughlin, C. Koch, K. Dickson, What’s this “tosh”?: innovation networks and new product development as a political process. Int. J. Innov. Manag. 5(3), 275–298 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.E. Miles, C.C. Snow, The new network firm: a spherical structure built on a human investment philosophy. Organ. Dyn. 23(4), 4–18 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Nahapiet, S. Ghoshal, Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Acad. Manag. Rev. 23(2), 242–266 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Nelson, S. Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (Belknap Press, Cambridge, 1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • N. Nohria, R.G. Eccles, Networks and Organization: Structure, Form, and Action (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Oliver, H. Johnston, What a good idea: frames and ideologies in social movements research. Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 8, 1999, pp. 1–24 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • W.J. Orlikowski, Using technology and constituting structures: a practice lens for studying technology in organizations. Organ. Sci. 11(4), 404–428 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Parmigiani, W. Mitchell, Complementarity, capabilities, and the boundaries of the firm: the impact of within-firm and inter-firm expertise on concurrent sourcing of complementary components. Strateg. Manag. J. 30(10), 1065–1091 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Parush, From ‘management ideology’ to ‘management fashion’: a comparative analysis of two key concepts in the sociology of management knowledge. Int. Stud. Manag. Organ. 38(1), 48–70 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • F. Passy, Social networks matter. But how?, in Social Movements and Networks, ed. by M. Diani, D. McAdam (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003), pp. 21–48

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • A. Pettigrew, The Politics of Organizational Decision Making (Tavlstock, London, 1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Pettigrew, Strategy formulation as a political process. Int. Stud. Manag. Organ. 7, 78–87 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Pfeffer, Power in Organizations (Pitman, Marshfield, 1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Pfeffer, G. Salancik, The External Control of Organizations (Harper & Row, New York, 1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Podolny, J.N. Baron, Resources and relationships: social networks and mobility in the workplace. Am. Sociol. Rev. 62(5), 673–693 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Podolny, K. Page, Network forms of organization. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 24, 57–76 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • W.W. Powell, Neither market nor hierarchy: network forms of organization, in Research in Organizational Behaviour, ed. by B. Staw, L.L. Cummings (JAI Press, Greenwich, 1990), pp. 295–336

    Google Scholar 

  • W.W. Powell, Inter-organizational collaboration in the biotechnology industry. J. Inst. Theor. Econ. 120(1), 197–215 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  • W.W. Powell, Learning from collaboration: knowledge and networks in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Calif. Manag. Rev. 40(3), 228–240 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • W. Powell, K. Koput, L. Smith-Doerr, Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: networks of learning in biotechnology. Adm. Sci. Q. 41(1), 116–145 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • H. Rao, C. Morrill, M.N. Zald, Power plays: how social movements and collective action create new organizational forms. Res. Organ. Behav. 22, 239–282 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Salancik, An index of subgroup influence in dependency networks. Adm. Sci. Q. 31(2), 194–211 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L. Smith-Doerr, W. Powell, Networks and economic life, in The Handbook of Economic Sociology, 2nd edn., ed. by N. Smelser, R. Swedberg (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2005), pp. 379–402

    Google Scholar 

  • D.A. Snow, R.D. Benford, Ideology, frame resonance, and participation mobilization. Int. Mov. Res. 1, 197–217 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  • D.A. Snow, R.D. Benford, Clarifying the relationship between framing and ideology, in Frames of Protest: Social Movements and the Framing Perspective, ed. by H. Johnston, J.A. Noakes (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Maryland, 2005), pp. 205–212

    Google Scholar 

  • D.A. Snow, E.B. Rochford Jr., S.K. Worden, R.D. Benford, Frame alignment processes, micromobilization and movement participation. Am. Sociol. Rev. 51(4), 464–481 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Sturgeon, Modular production networks: a new American model of industrial organization. Ind. Corp. Change 11(3), 451–496 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • V.A. Thompson, Modern Organization (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution (Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Uzzi, The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: the network effect. Am. Sociol. Rev. 61(4), 674–698 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • B. Uzzi, Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: the paradox of embeddedness. Adm. Sci. Q. 42(1), 35–67 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D. Westby, Strategic imperative, ideology and frames, in Frames of Protest: Social Movements and the Framing Perspective, ed. by H. Johnston, J.A. Noakes (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Maryland, 2005), pp. 217–236

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Whitford, The New Old Economy: Networks, Institutions, and the Organizational Transformation of American Manufacturing (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitford, J., Zirpoli, F. (2009) The (vertical) network firm as a political coalition: the reorganization of Fiat Auto, Maggio, SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1426860

  • R.H.Williams, R.D. Benford, Two faces of collective action frames: a theoretical consideration, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Wilson, Introduction to Social Movements (Basic Books, New York, 1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • M.N. Zald, M.A. Berger, Social movements in organizations coup d’etat, insurgency, and mass movement. Am. J. Sociol. 83(4), 823–861 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873, 30121, Venezia, Italy

    Francesco Zirpoli

  2. Institute for Service Industry Research (IRAT), The National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Via Michelangelo Schipa, 91, 80122, Naples, Italy

    Luisa Errichiello

  3. Department of Sociology, Columbia University, 606 West 122nd Street, MC 9649, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Josh Whitford

Authors
  1. Francesco Zirpoli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luisa Errichiello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Josh Whitford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Zirpoli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Mechanics, Mathematics, & Management, Polytechnic University of Bari, viale Japigia 182, Bari, 70126, Italy

    Ilaria Giannoccaro

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag London

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Zirpoli, F., Errichiello, L., Whitford, J. (2013). Behavioral Decision-Making and Network Dynamics: A Political Perspective. In: Giannoccaro, I. (eds) Behavioral Issues in Operations Management. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4878-4_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4878-4_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4877-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4878-4

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation