EconBase
← All papers

A model of inter-organizational network formation

Shweta Gaonkar, Angelo Mele

arXiv 2 May 2021 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2023) · 1 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2105.00458 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

How do inter-organizational networks emerge? Accounting for interdependence among ties while studying tie formation is one of the key challenges in this area of research. We address this challenge using an equilibrium framework where firms' decisions to form links with other firms are modeled as a strategic game. In this game, firms weigh the costs and benefits of establishing a relationship with other firms and form ties if their net payoffs are positive. We characterize the equilibrium networks as exponential random graphs (ERGM), and we estimate the firms' payoffs using a Bayesian approach. To demonstrate the usefulness of our approach, we apply the framework to a co-investment network of venture capital firms in the medical device industry. The equilibrium framework allows researchers to draw economic interpretation from parameter estimates of the ERGM Model. We learn that firms rely on their joint partners (transitivity) and prefer to form ties with firms similar to themselves (homophily). These results hold after controlling for the interdependence among ties. Another, critical advantage of a structural approach is that it allows us to simulate the effects of economic shocks or policy counterfactuals. We test two such policy shocks, namely, firm entry and regulatory change. We show how new firms' entry or a regulatory shock of minimum capital requirements increase the co-investment network's density and clustering.

Citation extraction

98
references
248
in-text mentions
98
distinct cited
0
self-citations
19,031
main-text words

appendix boundary found by none_found · 100% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Mele A (2017) a) A structural model of dense network formation1.000235100%
2Caimo A, Friel N (2011) Bayesian inference for exponential random graph models1.000104100%
3Mele A, Zhu L (2020) Approximate variational estimation for a model of network formation, johns Hopkins University1.000103100%
4Kim JY, Howard M, Pahnke EC, Boeker W (2015) Understanding network formation in strategy research: Exponential random graph models1.00094100%
5Ahuja G, Soda G, Zaheer A (2012) The genesis and dynamics of organizational networks1.00083100%
6Snijders TA (2002) Markov chain monte carlo estimation of exponential random graph models1.00074100%
7Jackson MO (2008) Social and Economics Networks1.00053100%
8Chung S, Singh H, Lee K (2000) Complementarity, status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation1.00053100%
9Gulati R, Gargiulo M (1999) Where do interorganizational networks come from?0.92843100%
10Rothaermel FT, Boeker W (2008) Old technology meets new technology: Complementarities, similarities, and alliance formation0.92843100%

Showing the top 10 of 98 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Homophily in preferences or meetings? Identifying and estimating an iterative network formation model0.40511