Doctoral Dissertation Research: Short-term Network Organizations: The Emergence and Institutionalization of Flexible Production Practices in the U.S. Movie Industry, 1930-1950

组织理论家对研究组织网络及其与市场和等级制度的区别越来越感兴趣。然而，大多数研究侧重于长期的、开放式的关系，而忽视了更难以捉摸、但同样普遍的短期关系(例如，单一项目合作)。这篇博士论文项目分析了一种特定类型的灵活组织网络，称为短期网络组织(STNO)。STNO被定义为一个故意创建的组织实体，它将独立的贡献者组合在一起，以实现完成单一短期任务的目标。虽然网络组织的灵活性优势和创业机会一直是学术界和实践者关注的焦点，但这项工作关注的是STNO组织面临的实质性协调挑战。结合交易成本经济学和制度理论，我们假设STNO将：(1)加强心理契约，(2)支持集体制裁制度，(3)依靠全行业标准化的STNO协调实践来降低交易成本，提高STNO绩效。假设将在1930-1950年间的400个电影项目的分层随机抽样中得到检验。本文通过对STNO及其所隐含的治理挑战的概念化，对组织理论做出了贡献。它介绍并测试了电影业组织可能已经找到的应对这些挑战的三种策略。如果成功，结果将为实践者提供实施鲜为人知的组织形式所需的指导。

Organizational theorists have become increasingly interested in the study of organizational networks and how they differ from markets and hierarchies. However, the majority of the research has focused on long-term, open-ended relationships and neglected the more elusive, but equally prevalent short-term relationships (e.g., single project collaborations). This doctoral dissertation project analyzes one specific type of flexible organizational network called a Short-Term Network Organization (STNO). An STNO is defined as an intentionally created organizational entity which combines independent contributors for the objective of accomplishing a single short-term task. While flexibility advantages and entrepreneurial opportunities of network organizations have been the focus of attention in the academic and practitioner literature, this work focuses on the substantial coordination challenges STNOs present. Combining transaction cost economics and institutional theory, we hypothesize that STNOs will: (1) strengthen psychological contracts, (2) support collective sanctioning systems, and (3) rely on industry-wide standardized STNO coordination practices to reduce transaction costs and to improve STNO performance. Hypotheses will be tested on a stratified random sample of 400 movie projects from 1930-1950. The dissertation contributes to organizational theory by conceptualizing STNOs and the governance challenges they imply. It introduces and tests three strategies organizations in the movie industry may have found to address these challenges. If successful, the results will provide practitioners with needed guidance for the implementation of a little-understood organizational form.