How Far do Network Effects Spill Over? Evidence from an Empirical Study of Performance Differentials in Interorganizational Networks

Abstract

Organizations join interorganizational networks in the hope of gaining exposure to learning opportunities, and accessing valuable extramural resources and knowledge. In this paper we argue that participation in interorganizational networks also reduces performance differentials among organizational nodes. We examine three alternative mechanisms capable of sustaining this prediction. The first (strength of ties) operates at a strictly local level defined in terms of dyadic relations linking organizations. The second mechanism (social proximity) operates at an intermediate - or meso level of interdependence defined in terms of membership in overlapping cliques into which interorganizational ne..