Network Dynamics: A Review and Research Agenda

There has been a tremendous increase in scholarly interest in the emergence, evolution, and change of organizational networks. This has led to key insights on the phenomenon, and to a clearer understanding of its uniqueness and importance. Yet, the rapid increase in the number of publications on network dynamics, the fact that longitudinal network data significantly differ both across and within levels of analysis, and the fact that network dynamics can be explained invoking different logics (e.g., agency, inertia, opportunity) which are differentially embedded in various disciplines (e.g., economics, sociology, strategy) have led to fragmentation in the existing literature, which is scattered across a wide range of scientific journals. This hampers cumulative knowledge growth and risks leading to a duplication of efforts. Drawing on 162 peer-reviewed articles, we systematically review and integrate research on network dynamics into a conceptual framework that allows us to identify persisting gaps in research and promising avenues for advancing our understanding of network dynamics.