Navigating the Research Landscape of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: A Research Note and Agenda

This note and agenda serve as a cause for thought for scholars interested in researching Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), addressing both the opportunities and challenges posed by this phenomenon. It covers key aspects of data retrieval, data selection criteria, issues in data reliability and validity such as governance token pricing complexities, discrepancy in treasuries, Mainnet and Testnet data, understanding the variety of DAO types and proposal categories, airdrops affecting governance, and the Sybil problem. The agenda aims to equip scholars with the essential knowledge required to conduct nuanced and rigorous academic studies on DAOs by illuminating these various aspects and proposing directions for future research

Interorganizational relationships : the transition of special education students to adult human services.

Theory and research regarding interorganizational relations (IOR) can be applied to many situations in the field of human service delivery. An example of IOR in public human services occurs in the transition of special needs students from special education programs to adult human services. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the transitional process is defined by legislation entitled Chapter 688. This research examines Chapter 688 from the conceptual framework of IOR theory. It examines some of the issues and problems involved in the implementation of IOR in the transition process. The organizational domain is delimited to include four key Chapter 688 organizations (agencies): public schools, rehabilitation commission, department of mental health, and department of mental retardation. Local (area) directors of each organization completed a survey questionnaire containing three parts; knowledge of Chapter 688, attitudes toward Chapter 688 and IOR, and the Klonglan Scale (a measure of intensity of IOR). Information on actual referral patterns and IOR in Chapter 688 was obtained through document analysis of Individual Transition Plans, ITP, and State data base files on Chapter 688 referrals. The results of the study indicated that the local area directors of the target agencies involved in the Chapter 688 interorganizational relationships, IOR, have a good working knowledge of the law. The area directors are of the opinion that the components of Chapter 688 implementation are satisfactory. They value IOR as a means of improving services, but need to develop a clearer idea of IOR. The area directors\u27 description of the intensity of IOR in the Klonglan Scale is not substantiated in terms of participation in ITP meetings and/or ITP services. Lastly, the local area directors identify the following barriers to interorganizational relationships: inadequate funding, lack of coordination of funding, lack of goal clarity and uniformity, and insufficient knowledge of, and trust in, other agencies

Integrating individual psychology and social networks

Using a wide range of methodological and theoretical frameworks this thesis aims to integrate the social network approach with psychological research. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the network perspective and the wide range of theories, concepts and applications. Further, a novel structural framework is offered, integrating the most important measures of network-positioning. Chapter 2 contains four studies examining how an individual’s personality and motivation relates to their perception of, and actual social network positioning. Study 1 shows that personality influences how people perceive themselves in social networks and that this perception moderates the well-researched relationship between personality and subjective wellbeing. The second study demonstrates that (similarity on) the Big Five personality factors affect the likelihood of selecting and attracting social network ties. Yet, effects are small and somewhat inconsistent with previous literature. Results of Study 3 did not support our hypothesis that differences in motivation are associated with the occupation of different social network positions, in an organizational setting. Lastly, study 4 shows how an individual’s political skill relates to his/her preferred and perceived personal networks, and their joint effect on job attitudes. Chapter 3 links SNA with Social Cognition research. Study 1 demonstrates that high self-monitors are perceived as more similar to the self, and that this (partly) accounts for the well-known effect of self-monitoring on popularity in friendship networks. Study 2 examines if, and concludes that perceptions of high popularity negatively affects the quality of a friendship relations. Lastly, Study 3 demonstrates that an individual’s sense of power negatively impacts perceptual accuracy of dyadic relations in a friendship network. Chapter 4 emphasizes qualitative aspects of social network relations. Study 1 suggests that average frequency of tie “activation” as well as advice ties that co-occur with more personal ties, lead to increased levels of employee engagement. Study 2 demonstrates that costs of giving and benefits of receiving advice are more pronounced in informal, compared to formal work networks. Overall, it is concluded that the social network approach provides a powerful research tool for psychologists, yet being fraught with both methodological as well as theoretical challenges

Modeling and measuring Business/IT Alignment by using a complex-network approach

Tese de doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de InformaçãoBusiness/IT Alignment is an information systems research field with a long existence and a high number of researchers and represents a central thinking direction over the entanglement between business and information systems. lt aims to achieve a paradigm, on which there is a high degree of visibility and availability of information about the information systems sociomateriality. _ Complex-networks constitute an approach to the study of the emergent properties of complex-systems that strongly focuses and relies on models and measures, through which the system interdependence is built. Severa! characteristics of complex-networks are: structural or functional topology; domain independent; quantification of elements' relationships; visibility and capture of emergent properties. This thesis aims to contribute for the appropriate use of complex-networks' models and measures in the effort of the Business/ IT Alignment. lt outlines a profiling framework that introduces a global analysis of the information systems enactment. The profiling framework is applied to exploratory cases to uncover the emergent nature of the Business/ IT Alignment through its information systems virtual organization. From the analysis of the exploratory cases, information systems efforts to accomplish Business/ IT Alignment are inferred.O alinhamento entre o negócio e o IT é um campo de investigação com uma longa existência e concentrando um grande numero de investigadores representando uma direção central no pensamento sobre a relação entre o negocio e o IT. Pretende alcançar um paradigma no qual existe um elevado grau de visibilidade e disponibilidade de informação sobre a relação sociomaterial que constitui o sistema de informação. As redes-complexas constituem uma abordagem ao estudo de propriedades emergentes de sistemas-complexos e que se foca e sustenta em modelos e medidas através das quais constrói a interdependência do sistema. Diversas contribuições das redes complexas são: a topologia estrutural e funcional afecta sempre a função; separada do dominio de aplicação; quantificação das relações entre os elementos; visibilidade e captura de propriedades emergentes. Esta tese espera contribuir para a utilização adequada aos sistemas de informação dos modelos e medidas das redes-complexas no esforços de alinhamento entre o negócio e o IT. Desenvolve uma framework de caracterização que introduz uma análise global aos sistemas de informação. A framework é aplicada a casos exploratórios de forma a revelar a natureza emergente do alinhamento entre o negócio e o IT através da organização virtual dos sistemas de informaçã

AN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE PERSPECTIVE ON ROLE EMERGENCE AND ROLE ENACTMENT

Organizational culture has received ample attention both in the popular and scholarly press as an important factor predicting organizational effectiveness by inducing employees to behave effectively (Cooke & Rousseau, 1988; Schein, 1985, 1990). The assertion that culture leads to behavior, however, has received only limited empirical support. The purpose of this dissertation is to explicate the impact of organizational culture on employees' roles and subsequent role behaviors. I propose that four types of cultures (clan, entrepreneurial, market and hierarchy) exert different and at times competing pressures, thus, creating distinct role schemas regarding the range of expected employee behaviors, which in turn, guide distinct forms of employee role behavior (e.g. helping, innovation, achievement and compliance). In addition, I examine boundary conditions on the relationships between culture and role perceptions and role perceptions and behavior. I propose that in the process of role emergence, culture strength as an organizational level characteristic, cognitive self-monitoring, and perceived person-organization (P-O) fit influence the degree to which individuals interpret and incorporate the organizational culture's norms as part of their roles at work. I also suggest that culture strength, behavioral self-monitoring as well as P-O fit have an impact on the extent to which employees enact the expected organizational work roles. Data from about hundred different organizations were collected to test the proposed relationships. The empirical results provide support for most of the proposed relationships between culture and employee roles, thereby validating the role of culture in establishing what is expected and valued at work. In addition, culture strength had moderating effect on the linkages between culture and employee roles for two of the culture dimensions (clan and hierarchical). Surprisingly, self-monitoring (cognitive) had a significant moderating effect but in a direction different from the predicted. Perceived fit moderated the relationship between market culture and helping role. Innovative role exhibited a negative significant relationship with compliant behavior while market strength intensified the negative relationship between achievement role and helping behavior. Thus, the results lend some support to the overall framework. Implications for theory and practice, as well as directions for future research, are discussed

Network creation mechanisms in business incubators and clusters and the implications on new ventures in Lagos technology ecosystem

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and analyse the role of entrepreneurs in the network creation process. A great deal of attention has been paid to the relational and structural characteristics of networks to understand the impact of networks on new ventures. Even though these properties provide insight into understanding network impact, they do not cover the whole story since they neglect those who are network beneficiaries or brokers. Additionally, the role of context in stimulating network activities and the relationships that make up those networks has received limited attention. According to researchers like Vissa (2014) and Hallen and Eisenhardt (2012), entrepreneurs should not be viewed as passive actors constrained by network structure, but rather as reflective agents who can shape their network endeavours over time. This study examines the roles of agency, cognition, and context in explaining how entrepreneurs trigger, regulate, and pursue network relationships. By contributing to this knowledge, researchers can better understand network actors' perceptions of network impact. As the context is essential to understanding entrepreneurship, the Lagos Technology Ecosystem, comprised of different incubator models and clusters, is examined. By doing so, knowledge is gained regarding the way entrepreneurial networks are shaped. Study design/methodology/approach: Multiple case studies are used in this study to allow for comparisons between different cases and exploration of the phenomenon. Two contexts are involved in this study: the incubator and the cluster. By comparing multiple case studies, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of networking mechanisms within them. In addition, they facilitate perceptions of the impact on actors who are involved in networking activities. Findings: Findings from this study showed that context is essential for building relationships and improving access to critical ingredients for building networks. However, the entrepreneur, who is crucial to creating networks, is influenced by the interaction between contextual factors and sense-making outputs, which enables us to find out what they perceive as network quality and impact. Furthermore, this study provides a framework that can be used to gauge entrepreneurial actors' involvement. The framework can be used to identify properties of networks that can be utilized to design network activities. Implication: Based on what is learned in this research; we can create network activities for entrepreneurs in various contexts. This could also be used to benchmark the effectiveness of network activities. Originality: In this study, a conceptual framework for understanding entrepreneurial actors' involvement in network creation is presented. The research explores motivation, brokerage, and contextual interaction in the creation of networks. Unlike conventional models of networking, this takes into account motivation, brokerage, and interaction to understand network impact

Centrality in organizational networks

In this paper, we discuss the role of centrality in organizational networks. We will present some new results related to the different concepts of centrality. A case study of an ICT consulting is presented