Informal Networks: Dark Sides, Bright Sides, and Unexplored Dimensions
Horak, S.; Afiouni, F.; Bian, Y.; Ledeneva, A.; Muratbekova-Touron, M., Fey, C.
(2020). Informal Networks: Dark Sides, Bright Sides, and Unexplored Dimensions.
Management and Organization Review, 16(3), 511-542. DOI: 10.1017/mor.2020.28
Link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/mor.2020.28
Abstract
Informal networking can be seen as a positive activity with beneficial outcomes
for individuals, firms, and society as a whole, but informal networking can also
lead to collusion, cliques, nepotism, and other forms of unethical or corrupt
conduct – largely related to research on emerging markets. To date, the
construction of informal networks and their cultural intertwinement and
development have not been a focus of international management and organization
studies, a gap that this special issue seeks to address. This special issue
contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of informal networks and
their ambivalence, in which the same networks have different modes of operation
and have positive and negative sides intermittently or simultaneously. We
demonstrate the context in which informal networks operate, highlight their
complexity, and encourage dialogue among scholars studying informal networks in
a variety of countries. Using a context-based and comparative perspective allows
us to conceptualize informal networks in a more integrated and balanced way.
Understanding the workings of informal networking – known variously as guanxi,
yongo, jentinho, wasta, and blat – in culturally specific settings, places
Western values, social structures, and ideals of behavior in perspective and
tests Western-centered assumptions, narratives, and theories. Because informal
networking is a conventional way of conducting business in many countries, as
depicted in this special issue, defining the bright (positive) and the dark
(negative) sides of informal networks is critical for responsible management and
business success at multinational corporations.
Keywords
Informal institutions, informal networks, networking, dark side/bright side
debate, functional ambivalence, moral ambiguity, social capital, wasta, yongo,
blat/svyazi, guanxi.