“SKONK WORKS HERE”: ACTIVATING NETWORK SOCIAL CAPITAL IN COMPLEX COLLABORATIONS

Abstract

We construct a theory of team collaboration to explain how social actors activate their network ties to gain access to and acquire the use of social capital held by other network actors. Drawing from weak-strong tie theory and closure-brokerage models of network structures, our theory specifies dynamic processes in which relations vary in their potential for activation, and thus, project teams have differential probabilities of mobilizing and gaining collective use of the varied resources held by their network alters inside and outside the team. The theoretical scope is interorganizational team whose members are employed by two partnering organizations and are assigned to a joint project with a single task or goal to be accomplished within a limited period. We present and discuss a set of propositions about factors that affect the ability of a team to access its members’ social capital for use in a project task.

Citation

Johnson, L.R. and Knoke, D. (2004), "“SKONK WORKS HERE”: ACTIVATING NETWORK SOCIAL CAPITAL IN COMPLEX COLLABORATIONS", Beyerlein, M., Johnson, D. and Beyerlein, S. (Ed.) Complex Collaboration: Building the Capabilities for Working Across Boundaries (Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 243-262. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-0977(04)10009-5