Call for Papers---The Genesis and Dynamics of Networks

The use of network research in the fields of organization and strategy has exploded in recent times, with several special issues in top outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Strategic Management Journal testifying to the popularity of the paradigm. However, a cursory look at the empirical and even the theoretical organizational network literature presents a rather unbalanced picture in terms of the focus of the current research. Specifically, though an extensive body of knowledge exists on how network structures may contribute to the creation of outcomes at different levels of analysis (individuals, groups, organizations, and populations of organizations), less attention has been paid in the literature to understanding how and why networks emerge, evolve, and change. A second and related issue with the organizational network literature is the strong likelihood that the current set of results in the literature that relate network structure to outcomes such as performance may be spurious, because they assume that network structural positions are exogenous. However, both the creation of and the positions that actors (whether individuals, groups, or firms) occupy in networks are likely to be endogenous to network outcomes. We elaborate on these issues below.