The Liability of Collective Action: Growth and Change Among Early American Telephone Companies

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary organization theories generally accept a basic premise of community ecology-that by operating collectively organizations share common fates (Hannan and Freeman, 1977; Carroll, 1984; Barnett and Carroll, 1987). Resource dependence and network researchers find that organizations often build cooperative ties that then mutually affect their performance (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978; Burt, 1983; Powell, 1990). Institutional theories depict organizations as operating within “fields” or “sectors” of shared purposes and expectations (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Scott, 1987), where collective action is conditioned by broader social institutions (Streeck, 1985). Even organizational economists now allow for “hybrid” forms characterized by extramarket linkages among organizations (Williamson, 1991).