HEC Research Papers Series,
HEC Paris

Abstract: This chapter takes networks as the default lens for interorganizational research (IOR) in marketing, guiding readers from theory to practice. The chapter has four main contributions. First, we provide an overview of common pitfalls, suggested fixes, and a checklist to avoid them. Second, we offer a portable theories → constructs → metrics → data map that links key theoretical mechanisms to appropriate metrics and data requirements. We organize metrics in a macro-meso-micro scaffold, distinguishing macro-level network characteristics (e.g., degree distribution), meso-level characteristics (e.g., communities), and micro-level characteristics (e.g., network-position metrics). Third, we propose a two-by-two typology of empirical designs, unit of inference (node vs. tie) by dominant mechanism (ego-vs. structure-driven), that specifies characteristic covariates, identification needs, and statistical methods. Lastly, we offer a roadmap for future IOR research in marketing strategy. Throughout the chapter, we use a running boardinterlock example to make concrete the move from director-firm affiliations (two-mode) to firmfirm ties (one-mode), metric computation and interpretation, community detection considerations, and modeling board-interlock tie formation using Exponential Random Graph Models. Taken together, the chapter offers the reader a guide from foundations to data structures, metrics, and formation models in complex IOR settings.

Keywords: Social Networks; Board Interlocks; Interfirm Networks; Interorganizational Research; Network Formation; ERGM

JEL-codes: C38; L14; M31

58 pages, December 8, 2025

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