IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v57y2019i1p182-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Catching Fire: Institutional Interdependencies in Union‐Facilitated Knowledge Diffusion

Author

Listed:
  • John E. McCarthy

Abstract

I find that school union representatives’ ‘boundary spanning’ communications throughout the school district predict the diffusion of knowledge between schools. Hence, my data reveal school union representatives as critical conduits for improvement‐related knowledge transfer and innovation. Yet, I also find that these external networks interact strongly with the level of workforce participation characterizing each school: The effects of external networks on internal knowledge diffusion are considerably stronger in more participative schools compared to less participative schools. This research contributes to industrial relations scholarship by demonstrating how union‐related institutions can foster unique social structures that directly strengthen innovation‐related capabilities, as well as how the efficacy of these networks depends on managerial norms at different areas of the organization. This study is also of timely practical relevance at a time when labour unions are increasingly painted as obstacles to, rather than potential facilitators of, improvement and innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • John E. McCarthy, 2019. "Catching Fire: Institutional Interdependencies in Union‐Facilitated Knowledge Diffusion," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(1), pages 182-201, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:57:y:2019:i:1:p:182-201
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12417
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/bjir.12417?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ariel C. Avgar & Julie Anna Sadler & Paul Clark & Wonjoon Chung, 2016. "Labor–Management Partnership and Employee Voice: Evidence from the Healthcare Setting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 576-603, October.
    2. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2004. "The Course of Research into the Economic Consequences of German Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 255-281, June.
    3. Terry M. Moe, 2009. "Collective Bargaining and The Performance of the Public Schools," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 156-174, January.
    4. Saul A. Rubinstein, 2000. "The Impact of Co-Management on Quality Performance: The Case of the Saturn Corporation," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(2), pages 197-218, January.
    5. Jasjit Singh, 2005. "Collaborative Networks as Determinants of Knowledge Diffusion Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(5), pages 756-770, May.
    6. Saul A. Rubinstein & John E. McCarthy, 2016. "Union–Management Partnerships, Teacher Collaboration, and Student Performance," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(5), pages 1114-1132, October.
    7. Saul A. Rubinstein, 2001. "Unions As Value-Adding Networks: Possibilities for the Future of U.S. Unionism," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(3), pages 581-598, July.
    8. Carrie R. Leana & Frits K. Pil, 2006. "Social Capital and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Urban Public Schools," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 353-366, June.
    9. Ray Reagans & Ezra W. Zuckerman, 2001. "Networks, Diversity, and Productivity: The Social Capital of Corporate R&D Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 502-517, August.
    10. John Paul Macduffie, 1995. "Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(2), pages 197-221, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John E. McCarthy, 2021. "Labor‐Management Partnerships' Effects On Unionists' Interaction Networks: Evidence From Us Public Schools," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 277-306, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John E. McCarthy, 2021. "Labor‐Management Partnerships' Effects On Unionists' Interaction Networks: Evidence From Us Public Schools," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 277-306, July.
    2. Gallo, Julie Le & Plunket, Anne, 2020. "Regional gatekeepers, inventor networks and inventive performance: Spatial and organizational channels," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    3. Mahmoud Ibrahim Fallatah, 2021. "Innovating in the Desert: a Network Perspective on Knowledge Creation in Developing Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1533-1551, September.
    4. Stefano Brusoni & Lorenzo Cassi & Simge Tuna, 2021. "Knowledge integration between technical change and strategy making," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 1521-1552, November.
    5. Sung‐Choon Kang & Scott A. Snell, 2009. "Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 65-92, January.
    6. Srikanth Paruchuri & Snehal Awate, 2017. "Organizational knowledge networks and local search: The role of intra‐organizational inventor networks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 657-675, March.
    7. Jon C. Carr & Michael S. Cole & J. Kirk Ring & Daniela P. Blettner, 2011. "A Measure of Variations in Internal Social Capital among Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(6), pages 1207-1227, November.
    8. Konstantinos Grigoriou & Frank T. Rothaermel, 2017. "Organizing for knowledge generation: internal knowledge networks and the contingent effect of external knowledge sourcing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 395-414, February.
    9. Wei Cheng & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2021. "Marginalized and Overlooked? Minoritized Groups and the Adoption of New Scientific Ideas," NBER Working Papers 29179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jody Hoffer Gittell & Rob Seidner & Julian Wimbush, 2010. "A Relational Model of How High-Performance Work Systems Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 490-506, April.
    11. Xuan Liu & Shan Jiang & Hsinchun Chen & Catherine A. Larson & Mihail C. Roco, 2015. "Modeling knowledge diffusion in scientific innovation networks: an institutional comparison between China and US with illustration for nanotechnology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1953-1984, December.
    12. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn L. Shaw, 2009. "Connective Capital as Social Capital: The Value of Problem-Solving Networks for Team Players in Firms," NBER Working Papers 15619, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Alnuaimi, Tufool & Opsahl, Tore & George, Gerard, 2012. "Innovating in the periphery: The impact of local and foreign inventor mobility on the value of Indian patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1534-1543.
    14. Janhonen, Minna & Johanson, Jan-Erik, 2011. "Role of knowledge conversion and social networks in team performance," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 217-225.
    15. Prithwiraj Choudhury, 2017. "Innovation Outcomes in a Distributed Organization: Intrafirm Mobility and Access to Resources," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 339-354, April.
    16. Singh, Jasjit, 2008. "Distributed R&D, cross-regional knowledge integration and quality of innovative output," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 77-96, February.
    17. Melody H. Chang, 2023. "Cascading innovation: R&D team design and performance implications of mobility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1218-1253, May.
    18. Malik, Tariq, 2012. "Disparate association between alliance social capital and the global pharmaceutical firm's performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 1017-1028.
    19. Thomas Kochan & Eileen Appelbaum & Carrie Leana & Jody Hoffer Gittell, 2013. "The Human Capital Dimensions of Sustainable Investment: What Investment Analysts Need to Know," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2013-07, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    20. Michael Weiler & Oliver Hinz, 2019. "Without each other, we have nothing: a state-of-the-art analysis on how to operationalize social capital," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 1003-1035, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:57:y:2019:i:1:p:182-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.