Cliques Role in Organizational Reputational Influence: A Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Empirical support for the assumption that cliques are major determinants of reputational influence derives largely from the frequent finding that organizations which claimed that their cliques’ connections are influential had an increased likelihood of becoming influential themselves. It is suggested that the strong and consistent connection in cliques is at least partially responsible for the reputational influence factors. It is argued that social network analysis is an appropriate method for studying the use of influence development in the context of networked organizations. The results of the statistical network analysis reveal interesting findings in terms of prominent structural forms and the impact of involvement or embeddedness in the formal network. Consequently, this tells us that firms’ embeddedness in a centralized network structure which is based on formal ties harms the firms’ level of reputational influence.