Inter-Firm Social Networks Created by Mobile Laborers: A Case Study on Siteler in Ankara

Abstract Labor mobility, both as a mechanism of knowledge diffusion and as a kind of social glue that holds together small production communities operative within a given territory, deserves serious consideration. In this context, focusing on a specific industrial cluster in Ankara, this paper reveals the extent and characteristics of the social networks created by the mobile laborers in order to understand the interconnections between social context, knowledge spillovers, innovation and labor mobility. For this purpose a step-wise algorithm is employed in order to identify social sub-groups by employing social network analysis and by drawing on the flow data constructed for this study. What is evident from this study is that the social network created by the mobility of laborers in Siteler, an industrial cluster specialized in furniture production, reveals a topography of social relations that cannot be split into equally large blocks but eventually parceled out to micro parts consisting of generally 2 or 3 firms. Interestingly, the contexts of innovation also unveil that innovative firms tend to be located at an intermediate position, not an upper and central position, within the topography of the network.