管理工程学报2024，Vol.38Issue(3)：1-13,13.DOI:10.13587/j.cnki.jieem.2024.03.001
网络结构自主权的前因、后果及作用条件研究
Antecedents,consequences and effect conditions of network structural autonomy
摘要
Abstract
Under the background of innovation networking,enterprises' innovation behaviors are inevitably affected by some network forces,and the whole relationship network can be regarded as a kind of control mechanism embedded with innovation elements.With the emerging digital technologies' continuous development and popularization,this form of control is more common and has a broader range.In view of possible challenges,such as conflicts between cooperation objectives and actions,opportunistic behaviors,and resource leakage and waste,existing literature advocates strengthening network control,integration,and centralization.While highly controlled or centralized networks can contribute to consistency,they may restrict members'"personality behavior"or uniqueness development.Those enterprises involved in such networks not only face constraints,but also seek opportunities for independent action.The resource dependence theory(RDT)states that autonomy mainly comes from one party's resource dependence on others.RDT discusses the autonomy' source from the level of relationship content.However,from the resource dependence perspective,enterprises with obvious resource disadvantages,especially small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups with defects of new entry,will have difficulty gaining more autonomy.How can such enterprises get freedom of action and independent space to promote new ideas and business concepts in their external cooperation networks?The structural hole theory gives a different explanation from the level of relational structure,and it focuses on the structural source of autonomy in the network situation. Based on the structural hole theory,network structural autonomy is originally proposed by Burt(1990)to describe network space and freedom of action.However,it has not attracted enough attention of scholars in the strategy and innovation fields unlike the concept of structural hole.According to the structural hole theory,autonomy can be obtained by occupying structural holes or mediators.Therefore,an actor gains more structural level autonomy with the occupation of more structural holes.Autonomy derived from structural gap is defined as structural autonomy.Structural autonomy is the freedom of action and independent space in a network that individuals or organizations enjoy through developing rare relationships to occupy structural holes.It comes from the structural design of relationship network itself and depends on the construction and overall layout of network relationships.This concept considers the network links among enterprises and multiple external organizations,and special locations in the network they created,rather than the content within network relationship-such as some resource elements owned by one party.It does not simply discuss the dependence between the two sides.Rather,it focuses on the balance between control and anti-control in the network situation.At present,research on network structural autonomy in the strategy and innovation fields is limited as few scholars apply this concept to business model innovation research.However,the possible effects of network structural autonomy on enterprises' innovation,especially business model innovation(BMI)based on cross-organization cooperative relationship network,need to be discussed. Based on the structural hole theory,this study aims to introduce structural autonomy to the path of tie strength-business model innovation.It discusses one relationship-based antecedent and one relationship-based consequence of structural autonomy,namely tie strength and business model innovation,respectively.Additionally,it probes one condition restriction on the structural autonomy effect,environmental uncertainty.Therefore,this study constructs a moderated mediation model using sample data from 356 enterprises in China.The data were collected through a questionnaire survey method to verify this theoretical model.Our findings are as follows:First,tie strength positively affects network structural autonomy and BMI.Second,network structural autonomy intermediates between tie strength and BMI.Third,environmental uncertainty negatively moderates the relationship between network structural autonomy and BMI and has a significant negative impact on the whole path of"tie strength-structural autonomy-BMI". This study can increase the knowledge and awareness of structural autonomy,promote research on the action mechanism of structural autonomy,and form the certain explanation basis to explore the influence of network space and freedom on members'innovation from the structural autonomy perspective.Meanwhile,it can prompt researchers to think about the balance between network control and autonomy.It can provide a new perspective for the relative research of network governance and cooperative innovation management practices.This study will help enterprises have a better understanding of structural autonomy's formation,effects on innovation,and restrictive conditions.It will enhance enterprises' awareness of structural autonomy and guide them to obtain and use the same.In addition,this study can give beneficial enlightenment for enterprises to solve the problem about"how to realize business model innovation".关键词
结构自主权/强关系/弱关系/商业模式创新/不确定性Key words
Structural autonomy/Strong ties/Week ties/Business model innovation/Uncertainty分类
管理科学引用本文复制引用
朱明洋,张玉利,吴晓波..网络结构自主权的前因、后果及作用条件研究[J].管理工程学报,2024,38(3):1-13,13.基金项目
国家自然科学基金项目(71832013、72091311) The Natural Science Foundation of China(71832013,72091311) （71832013、72091311）
