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A recent line of inquiry investigates new forms of organizing as bundles of novel solutions to universal problems of resource allocation and coordination: how to allocate organizational problems to organizational participants and how to integrate participants' resulting efforts. We contribute to this line of inquiry by reframing organizational attention as the outcome of a concatenation of self-organizing, microstructural mechanisms linking multiple participants to multiple problems, thus giving rise to an emergent attention network. We argue that, when managerial hierarchies are absent and authority is decentralized, observable acts of attention allocation produce interpretable signals that help participants to direct their attention and share information on how to coordinate and integrate their individual efforts. We theorize that the observed structure of an organizational attention network is generated by the concatenation of four interdependent micromechanisms: focusing, reinforcing, mixing, and clustering. In a statistical analysis of organizational problem solving within a large opensource software project, we find support for our hypotheses about the self-organizing dynamics of the observed attention network connecting organizational problems (software bugs) to organizational participants (volunteer contributors). We discuss the implications of attention networks for theory and practice by emphasizing the self-organizing character of organizational problem solving. We discuss the generalizability of our theory to a wider set of organizations in which participants can freely allocate their attention to problems and the outcomes of their allocation are publicly observable without cost.

This qualitative study investigates the managerial practices adopted during the Covid-19 emergency in Lombardy, Italy, amidst unforeseen changes in public service ecosystems. Using longitudinal data, we identify seven key practices adopted by public service managers to organize amidst disruption. Our findings underscore the public managers’ role in fostering adaptation, innovation, and coordination among ecosystem actors. Extending roles outlined by Osborne et al. as ‘appreciate, engage, and facilitate’, our study reveals how these roles were interpreted following logics of entrepreneurial stakeholder engagement, rather than citizen-centred services. We discuss conceptual implications to further develop the theory and practice of public service management.

What do leaders do when they interact with followers and stakeholders in a time of crisis? What networking behaviours do leaders manifest in such a context of emergency? We answer these questions through qualitative research and cluster analysis conducted on a sample of leaders involved in community management in the most affected region in northern Italy during the three key phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings span a period of 18-months and show that leaders display a behavioural repertoire that includes six networking actions. Grouped together, these actions identify three clusters of leaders: Churners, who engage mainly in network generation and network termination; Divergent leaders, who manifest high levels of network conflict and re-construal; and Sense-makers, who are high in network deepening and teleology. Our research contributes to unveil the idiographic micro-foundations of networking behaviour during organizational jolts.

Combining the results of two empirical studies, we investigate the role of alters’ motivation in explaining change in ego's network position over time. People high in communal motives, who are prone to supportive and altruistic behavior in their interactions with others as a way to gain social acceptance, prefer to establish ties with co-workers occupying central positions in organizational social networks. This effect results in a systematic network centrality bias: The personal network of central individuals (individuals with many incoming ties from colleagues) is more likely to contain more supportive and altruistic people than the personal network of individuals who are less central (individuals with fewer incoming ties). This result opens the door to the possibility that the effects of centrality so frequently documented in empirical studies may be due, at least in part, to characteristics of the alters in an ego's personal community, rather than to egos themselves. Our findings invite further empirical research on how alters’ motives affect the returns that people can reap from their personal networks in organizations.

Multiplexity, the coexistence of more than one type of relationship between two actors, is a prevalent phenomenon with clear relevance for a wide range of management settings and phenomena. While there is a substantial body of work on multiplexity, the absence of a shared terminology and a typology for the mechanisms and arguments that are used in theorizing about its implications nevertheless hamper its appeal to organizational network scholars and slow its progress. Based on content analysis of 103 studies, we pro-pose “relational harmony,” “task complementarity,” and “relational scope” as three cat-egories to integrate the mechanisms and arguments used in the literature to theorize about the implications of multiplexity. We then survey the literature in light of this typol-ogy to show how it is also useful in revealing patterns of theorizing; for example, with respect to the types of relationships that are studied in relation to multiplexity. We conclude with suggestions for future research directions, focusing on how these can be pur-sued based on our integrative typology. We hope that the common ground we provide for theorizing about the implications of multiplexity will make it an even more engaging topic for organizational network and management scholars, and place it in the company of more prominently used relational constructs in management research, as aligned with its prevalence and relevance.

This paper reviews the growing body of work on network dynamics in organizational research, focusing on a corpus of 187 articles—both “micro” (i.e., interpersonal) and “macro” (i.e., interorganizational)—published between 2007 and 2020. We do not see “network dynamics” as a single construct; rather, it is an umbrella term covering a wide territory. In the first phase of our two-phase review, we present a taxonomy that organizes this territory into three categories: (1) network change (i.e., the emergence, evolution, and transformation of network ties and structures), (2) the occurrence of relational events (i.e., modeling the sequence of discrete actions generated by one actor and directed towards one or more other actors), and (3) coevolution (i.e., the process whereby network and actor attributes influence each other over time). Our review highlights differences between network dynamics based on relational states (e.g., a friendship) and relational events (e.g., an email message), examines the drivers and effects of network dynamics, and in a methodological appendix, clarifies the assumptions, strengths, and weaknesses of different analytical approaches for studying network dynamics. In the second phase of our review, we critically reflect on the findings from the first phase and sketch out a rough agenda for future research, organized in terms of four overarching themes: the interplay between the dynamics of social networks conceived as relational states and relational events, mechanisms underlying network dynamics, outcomes of network dynamics, and the role of cognition.

I prodotti per la cura personale sono un gruppo eterogeneo di sostanze chimiche che includono le fragranze sintetiche (PMF) come Galaxolide (HHCB), Tonalide (AHTN), Celestolide (ADBI) e Phantolide (AHDI). I PMF sono molto utilizzati nei profumi, detergenti e nei prodotti per la pulizia della casa e ciò porta al loro rilascio nell'ambiente per lo più attraverso gli scarichi degli impianti di depurazione. Anche se l'Italia è il paese europeo con il più alto utilizzo di PMF, pochi dati sono disponibili sulla loro presenza nelle acque italiane e sul loro destino negli impianti convenzionali. In tale contesto, questa ricerca si è concentrata in primo luogo sullo sviluppo di nuovi protocolli per la determinazione dei PMF nelle acque reflue e nei fanghi attivi. I PMF nei campioni di acqua sono stati estratti mediante SPE e analisi in GC-MS con triplo quadrupolo mentre i fanghi attivi sono stati analizzati usando un bagno ad ultrasuoni e una trappola ionica. I limiti di rilevabilità ottenuti sono stati molto inferiori alle concentrazioni dei campioni. Questi metodi consentono l'analisi di molti campioni in tempi brevi impiegando strumentazione semplice e limitando i volumi di solvente utilizzati. Sono stati poi monitorati i PMF all'interno di un depuratore convenzionale italiano. HHCB e il suo principale sottoprodotto, il Galaxolidone (HHCB-lattone), sono stati trovati in concentrazioni di µg/L, un ordine di grandezza maggiore di AHTN, mentre ADBI è stato rilevato in tracce e AHDI era sempre, Personal care products are a heterogeneous group of chemicals that include Polycyclic Musk Fragrances (PMFs) as Galaxolide (HHCB), Tonalide (AHTN), Celestolide (ADBI) and Phantolide (AHDI). PMFs are widely spread substances employed in perfumes, detergents and house-cleaning products. The massive use leads to PMF release into the environment mainly through Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) discharges. Even if Italy is the European country with the highest use of PMFs, only a few data are available about these products’ occurrence in Italian water and about PMF fate in conventional WWTPs. In this, PhD was firstly focused on developing protocols for PMF determination in wastewater and in activated sludge. PMFs in water samples were determined by SPE extraction and analysis in GC-MS with a triple-quadrupole while for the analysis of activated sludge an ultrasonic bath and a GC-Ion trap were employed. Detection limits of selected compounds were considerably lower than sample concentrations. These methods allow the analysis of many samples in short times employing simple instrumentation and limiting the solvent volumes used. After that, PMFs inside an Italian conventional WWTPs was monitored. HHCB and its main by-product, Galaxolidone (HHCB-lactone), were found in concentrations of µg/L, one order of magnitude greater than AHTN, AHDI was always lower than LOD while ADBI was measured only at trace levels. No seasonal variability was recorded in PMF input onto WWTP. In the water phase, HHCB and AHTN evidenced a modest reduction during treatments (20% and 50%, respectively) mainly due to adsorption processes during the biological treatment as suggested by the high stable PMF concentrations in activated sludges. HHCB-lactone registered an increase up to 70% during treatments caused by HHCB biotransformation during biological treatment. This study revealed that current technologies are not enough efficient in removing PMFs from wastewaters which are discharged into the envi

The question of agency has been neglected in social network research, in part because the structural approach to social relations removes consideration of individual volition and action. However, recent emphasis on purposive individuals has reignited interest in agency across a range of social network research topics. Our paper provides a brief history of social network agency and an emergent framework based on a thorough review of research published since 2004. This organizing framework distinguishes between an ontology of dualism (actors and social relations as separate domains) and an ontology of duality (actors and social relations as mutually constituted) at both the individual and the social network level. The resulting four perspectives on network agency comprise individual advantage, embeddedness, micro-foundations, and struc-turation. In conclusion, we address current debates and future directions relating to sources of action and the locus of identity.

The mechanisms by which social networks and organizational vocabularies combine jointly to affect communication patterns across organizational boundaries remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we examine the mutually constitutive relation between the network ties through which organizational members communicate with each other and the vocabularies that they use to describe their organization. We suggest that the dynamic structure of social networks and organizational vocabularies is contingent on the formal design of organizational subunits. Within subunit boundaries, members who interact with each other are more likely to develop similar vocabularies over time. Interestingly, between subunits, the more two members share similar organizational vocabularies, the more likely they are to form a tie over time. We find empirical evidence for these arguments in a longitudinal study conducted among the managers of a multiunit organization. Organizational vocabularies, we suggest, may sustain communication patterns across organizational boundaries, thus bridging cultural holes within organizations.

The mechanisms by which social networks and organizational vocabularies combine jointly to affect communication patterns across organizational boundaries remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we examine the mutually constitutive relation between the network ties through which organizational members communicate with each other and the vocabularies that they use to describe their organization. We suggest that the dynamic structure of social networks and organizational vocabularies is contingent on the formal design of organizational subunits. Within subunit boundaries, members who interact with each other are more likely to develop similar vocabularies over time. Interestingly, between subunits, the more two members share similar organizational vocabularies, the more likely they are to form a tie over time. We find empirical evidence for these arguments in a longitudinal study conducted among the managers of a multiunit organization. Organizational vocabularies, we suggest, may sustain communication patterns across organizational boundaries, thus bridging cultural holes within organizations.

Although the relationship between competition and firm innovation has long been of scholarly interest, prior research has predominantly considered changes in internal research and development (R&D) as a strategic response to competitors’ actions. In this study, we focus on one of the most important and commonly observed contractual mechanisms used to acquire external technologies: technology licensing. Surprisingly, licensing has been mostly overlooked by prior studies examining the effect of competition on firms’ allocation of R&D. We take into account the unique properties of licensing and systematically link them to the demands arising from the competitive pressure caused by rivals’ launches of new products. Furthermore, we discuss how licensing-in decisions ultimately shape a firm’s subsequent innovation in areas where they are threatened by competitors and how such innovation depends on the cumulative R&D investments inside the organization into which licensed knowledge is added. We test our theoretical model through a longitudinal design that tracks the licensing-in and innovation outcomes of firms in the global biopharmaceutical industry. Accounting for the endogenous selection of firms into licensing, our findings illustrate that licensing-in is motivated by competitive pressures. We also find that licensing-in increases a firm’s capacity to innovate in areas where competitors have exerted pressure, particularly in the presence of cumulative R&D investments. In so doing, the paper anchors technology licensing as a key organizational action that helps increase our understanding of the important relationship between competition and innovation.