Networks of Interorganizational Relations

Network analysis has been used extensively in the study of interorganizational relations. This article reviews the literature over the past fifteen years and organizes it into three theoretical traditions: the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model. It is shown that network methods have enabled researchers to describe phenomena, such as interorganizational fields, that were previously inaccessible. It is also shown how social networks help to explain the formation of interorganizational ties and how interorganizational relations, conceptualized as social networks, can explain organizational power as well as the strategies decision makers pursue.