Abstract
Understanding boundary-spanning activities such as interorganizational alliances and professional/organizational integration requires clarity about what boundaries are being spanned and how they were constructed. We approach this goal by drawing on social identity theory and institutional theory to develop a process model, whereby inward- and outward-directed networking activities combine to build the social boundaries marking exclusive membership and proprietary domain. Four stages in the process are demonstrated, using two longitudinal case studies of emerging professions: the Jewish legal profession in Israel and physician executives in the USA. Despite the cases' contextual differences, analysis of networking activities supports propositions based on the model.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 661-687 |
Number of pages | 27 |
Journal | Organization Studies |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2007 |
Keywords
- Domain
- Membership
- Networking
- Professions
- Social boundaries