Structure, Content and Meaning of Organizational Networks

Peter Groenewegen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Julie E. Ferguson, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Christine Moser, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands; John Mohr, University of California, USA; Stephen P. Borgatti, University of Kentucky, USA

• Introduction, Structure, content, and meaning of organizational networks: Extending network thinking, Julie Ferguson, Peter Groenewegen, Christine Moser, John Mohr and Stephen P. Borgatti; Culture and connectivity intertwined: visualizing organizational fields as relational structures and meaning systems, Achim Oberg, Valeska P. Korff and Walter W. Powell; Being apart together: Convergence and divergence in the field of Dutch politics, Wouter van Atteveldt, Christine Moser and Kasper Welbers; The network structure of organizational vocabularies, Alessandro Lomi, Stefano Tasselli and Paola Zappa; Duality beyond dyads: multiplex patterning of social ties and cultural meanings, Nikita Basov and Julia Brennecke; Semantic networks and the market interface: lessons from luxury watchmaking, Frédéric C. Godart and Kim Claes; Becoming a Buddhist: the duality of ritual and belief, José A. Rodríguez, John W. Mohr and Laura Halcomb; The duality of philosophers’ social relations and ideas by Monica Lee; Meaning in organizational networks - from social to digital and back, Christine Moser, Peter Groenewegen and Julie Ferguson

Written by management, sociology, organizational sciences, and other researchers from Europe, the US, Australia, and South Korea, the nine essays in this book consider the structure, content, social relations, and meaning of organizational networks, emphasizing the social structure of meaning systems and the meaning of social structure. They discuss organizational fields as relational structures and meaning systems; how organizations converge and diverge from meaning in texts, focusing on party manifestos and press releases of organizations in Dutch politics; the network structure of organizational vocabularies; shared meanings and interpersonal ties in sociocultural networks in creative organizations in Europe; the cultural dimension of luxury watchmaking and the impact on price of connections between cultural elements and the way markets are formed and sustained; the connection between individuals’ beliefs about Buddhism and its relationship to everyday life with organizational activities, rituals, and religious practices; the relationship between culture and structure in the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory’s formation and fragmentation; and how understanding meaning in organizational networks should be more important in organizational theorizing.