Social Networks in Organizational Emergence: The University Spinout Phenomenon

This paper aims to ascertain the influence of social networks in the university spinout phenomenon. With respect to the instrumental role of social networks, it adopts a content contingency perspective pertaining to the role of closure and structural holes, and examines the interaction between relational and structural embeddedness in the academics' network structure. With respect to spinout outcomes, this paper distinguishes between academic exodus and stasis, and differentiates between types of spinouts based on the degree of involvement of the key academics. It also examines networks at the team level of analysis and submits that team-level structural differences exist between the different spinout structures.