Brokerage in Networks
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 July 2018
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 July 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0146
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 July 2018
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 July 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0146
Introduction
Networks refer to a web of social relations by which social actors—be they individuals or organizations—exchange knowledge and resources, tangible or intangible. Brokerage occurs when these actors—often noted as brokers—connect otherwise disconnected alters. Brokerage is important in network research for several reasons. Brokers play an integral role in connecting different communities of actors, moving knowledge and information, or intermediating resource exchanges. In doing so, brokers take various types of advantages based on their access to diverse information and their opportunities to arbitrage resource exchanges. These advantages have been shown to help brokers gain competitive advantages. However, such advantages might come at a cost, especially because brokers sometimes need to handle and work with alters who hold incompatible expectations with each other, or with alters who wish to disintermediate brokers. Given these implications of brokerages on various types of advantages, another set of works focuses on where do brokers come from and how brokerage changes over time. Both dispositional characteristics and situational conditions are known to help social actors to engage in brokerage activities. However, given the inherent challenges in brokerage acts, actors find difficult to persist as brokers, ensuing a complex dynamics on the brokerage.
Foundational Works
Simmel 1950 forms the basis of research on networks and brokerage. Simmel introduces the idea of the third actor as the tertius gaudens—the “third who benefits,” a concept that is accepted and assumed by many existing studies on network brokerage. Burt 1992 furthers the understanding of this triadic relationship by introducing the concept of structural holes—an environment where the tertius communicates information between unconnected contacts. His work also provides insight into the strategic advantages of spanning structural holes and bridging positions.
Burt, R. S. Structural Holes: The Structure of Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Burt introduces the concept of structural holes—an environment for tertius strategies, where the tertius transfers information between unconnected contacts. Structural holes provide brokers with competitive advantage by conferring information and control benefits. Information benefits refer to access to a wide range of information in a timely manner. Control benefits refer to having an upperhand in deciding the terms and conditions of resource exchanges.
Simmel, G. “The Triad.” The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Edited by Kurt H. Wolff, 145–169. New York: Free Press, 1950.
Simmel elaborates on three types of triadic relationships, and emphasises on the third social element. The first kind was the nonpartisan where the third actor strengthens the relationship between the other two actors. The second kind is the tertius gaudens. Here, the third actor maintains the separation between the other two actors, thus benefiting as a broker. The third kind is the divide et impera, where the third actor sows discord between the other two actors to acquire a dominating position.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abusive Supervision
- Adverse Impact and Equal Employment Opportunity Analytics
- Alliance Portfolios
- Alternative Work Arrangements
- Applied Political Risk Analysis
- Approaches to Social Responsibility
- Assessment Centers: Theory, Practice and Research
- Attitudes
- Attributions
- Authentic Leadership
- Automation
- Bayesian Statistics
- Behavior, Organizational
- Behavioral Approach to Leadership
- Behavioral Theory of the Firm
- Benefits
- Between Organizations, Social Networks in and
- Brokerage in Networks
- Business and Human Rights
- Business Ethics
- Career Studies
- Career Transitions and Job Mobility
- Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations
- Charismatic and Innovative Team Leadership By and For Mill...
- Charismatic and Transformational Leadership
- Compensation, Rewards, Remuneration
- Competitive Dynamics
- Competitive Heterogeneity
- Competitive Intensity
- Computational Modeling
- Conditional Reasoning
- Conflict Management
- Considerate Leadership
- Cooperation-Competition (Coopetition)
- Corporate Philanthropy
- Corporate Social Performance
- Corporate Venture Capital
- Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
- Creativity
- Cross-Cultural Communication
- Cross-Cultural Management
- Cultural Intelligence
- Culture, Organization
- Data Analytic Methods
- Decision Making
- Diversity
- Diversity and Firm Performance
- Diversity and Inclusion, Global Perspective on
- Dynamic Capabilities
- Emotional Labor
- Employee Aging
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Ownership
- Employee Voice
- Empowerment, Psychological
- Entrepreneurial Firms
- Entrepreneurial Orientation
- Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship, Corporate
- Entrepreneurship, Women’s
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Ethics
- Evaluation, Expatriate Selection and
- Executive Succession
- Faking in Personnel Selection
- Family Business, Managing
- Feedback
- Financial Markets in Organization Theory and Economic Soci...
- Findings, Reporting Research
- Firm Bribery
- First-Mover Advantage
- Fit, Person-Environment
- Forecasting
- Founding Teams
- Global Leadership
- Global Talent Management
- Goal Setting
- Grounded Theory
- Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions
- Human Capital Resource Pipelines
- Human Resource Management
- Human Resource Management, Strategic
- Human Resources, Global
- Human Rights
- Humanitarian Work Psychology
- Humility in Management
- Impression Management at Work
- Imprinting
- Influence Strategies/Tactics in the Workplace
- Information Economics
- Innovative Behavior
- Intelligence, Emotional
- International Economic Development and SMEs
- International Economic Systems
- International Strategic Alliances
- Job Analysis and Competency Modeling
- Job Crafting
- Job Design
- Job Satisfaction
- Judgment and Decision Making in Teams
- Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration within and across Firm...
- Leader-Member Exchange
- Leadership Development
- Leadership Development and Organizational Change, Coaching...
- Leadership, Ethical
- Leadership, Global and Comparative
- Leadership, Strategic
- Learning by Doing in Organizational Activities
- Licensing
- Management History
- Management In Antiquity
- Managerial and Organizational Cognition
- Managerial Discretion
- Meaningful Work
- Mentoring
- Multinational Corporations and Emerging Markets
- Multiteam Systems
- Neo-institutional Theory
- Neuroscience, Organizational
- New Ventures
- Organization Design, Global
- Organization Development and Change
- Organization Research, Ethnography in
- Organization Theory
- Organizational Adaptation
- Organizational Ambidexterity
- Organizational Behavior, Emotions in
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)
- Organizational Climate
- Organizational Control
- Organizational Corruption
- Organizational Hybridity
- Organizational Identity
- Organizational Justice
- Organizational Legitimacy
- Organizational Networks
- Organizational Paradox
- Organizational Performance, Personality Theory and
- Organizational Responsibility
- Organizational Surveys, Driving Change Through
- Organizations, Big Data in
- Organizations, Gender in
- Organizations, Identity Work in
- Organizations, Political Ideology in
- Organizations, Social Identity Processes in
- Overqualification
- Passion
- Paternalistic Leadership
- Pay for Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies
- People Analytics
- Performance Appraisal
- Performance Feedback Theory
- Planning And Goal Setting
- Proactive Work Behavior
- Psychological Contracts
- Psychological Safety
- Real Options Theory
- Recruitment
- Regional Entrepreneurship
- Reputation, Organizational Image and
- Research, Ethics in
- Research, Longitudinal
- Research Methods
- Research Methods, Qualitative
- Resource Redeployment
- Resource-Dependence Theory
- Resources
- Response Surface Analysis, Polynomial Regression and
- Role of Time in Organizational Studies
- Safety, Work Place
- Selection
- Selection, Applicant Reactions to
- Self-Determination Theory for Work Motivation
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Management
- Self-Management and Personal Agency
- Sensemaking in and around Organizations
- Service Management
- Shared Team Leadership
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Evaluation: Status and Reputation
- Social Movement Theory
- Social Ties and Network Structure
- Socialization
- Spin-Outs
- Sports Settings in Management Research
- Stakeholder Theory, Transaction Cost Economics and
- Stakeholders
- Status in Organizations
- Strategic Alliances
- Strategic Human Capital
- Strategy
- Strategy and Cognition
- Strategy Implementation
- Stress
- Structural Contingency Theory/Information Processing Theor...
- Team Composition
- Team Conflict
- Team Design Characteristics
- Team Emergent States Team Emergent States
- Team Learning
- Team Mental Models
- Team Newcomers
- Team Performance
- Team Processes
- Teams, Global
- Technology and Innovation Management
- Technology, Organizational Assessment and
- the Workplace, Millennials in
- Theory X and Theory Y
- Time and Motion Studies
- Training and Development
- Training Evaluation
- Trust in Organizational Contexts
- Turnover
- Unobtrusive Measures
- Validity
- Virtual Teams
- Whistle-Blowing
- Work and Family: An Organizational Science Overview
- Work Contexts, Nonverbal Communication in
- Work, Mindfulness at
- Workplace Aggression and Violence
- Workplace Coaching
- Workplace Commitment
- Workplace Gossip
- Workplace Meetings
- Workplace, Spiritual Leadership in the
- World War II, Management Research during