Are business friends social too? Understanding information sharing in an Indian dairy cooperative through a relational sociology lens

Abstract

Purpose

Extant literature indicates that people use existing social networks for various collective activities as there is a cost involved to create and maintain separate networks for different activities. The authors build on the relational sociology framework and test this assertion in by examining a dairy cooperative society, which is a community organization. We hypothesize that the cooperative members are likely to use existing social networks to operationalize their cooperative (dairy-related matters) and other social and personal relations. This study tests the hypothesis by studying information sharing relations among the dairy cooperative members in two different social networks: the dairy information network and social information network.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses social network analysis to analyze relational data.

Findings

The study finds that the members of the dairy cooperative maintain both information sharing networks separately and that each network has different control and efficiency mechanisms.

Originality/value

The findings contradict the assertions of existing literature and establish that people ensure their business relations remain separated from their social relations to avoid the possibility of social conflicts affecting their business activities.

Citation

Singh, S. and Christie, N. (2023), "Are business friends social too? Understanding information sharing in an Indian dairy cooperative through a relational sociology lens", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 43 No. 1/2, pp. 67-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-11-2021-0281