Are business friends social too? Understanding information sharing in an Indian dairy cooperative through a relational sociology lens

Abstract

PurposeExtant literature indicates that people use existing social networks for various collective activities as there is a cost involved to create and maintain separate networks for different activities. The authors build on the relational sociology framework and test this assertion in by examining a dairy cooperative society, which is a community organization. We hypothesize that the cooperative members are likely to use existing social networks to operationalize their cooperative (dairy-related matters) and other social and personal relations. This study tests the hypothesis by studying information sharing relations among the dairy cooperative members in two different social networks: the dairy information network and social information network.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses social network analysis to analyze relational data.FindingsThe study finds that the members of the dairy cooperative maintain both information sharing networks separately and that each network has different control and efficiency mechanisms.Originality/valueThe findings contradict the assertions of existing literature and establish that people ensure their business relations remain separated from their social relations to avoid the possibility of social conflicts affecting their business activities.

Open Innovation Frameworks: A diagnostic analysis of deployment, engagement, evaluation, and governance of Open Innovation in SMEs

“…The effects of managerial connections have been studied extensively from the perspective of social networks. Business organisations may build connections with the business and political spheres via managerial relationships [57]. In addition, connected businesses need to trade favours with their relational partners to maintain the survival and operation of networks, since members of networks should engage in a reciprocal and cooperative manner [58].…”