The Pressure of the Past: Network Imprinting in Intercorporate Communities
研究了社区型跨企业网络建立时的社会技术如何持续影响当代网络结构，发现航空旅行技术出现前建立的社区保留了本地化网络，这种模式通过模仿本地合法模板得以维持。
This paper extends organizational imprinting theory to networks by examining how the social technology available during the establishment of community-based intercorporate networks continues to influence contemporary network structures despite major changes in the U.S. corporate environment. I examine the 51 largest U.S. community network systems in 1986, the same networks in 2000, and the network activity of the component organizations of those network systems. Results show that even when controlling for many plausible alternative explanations, communities established prior to the advent of air travel technology have preserved locally focused networks, which suggests that this pattern is maintained by emulation of locally legitimate templates of action. This research contributes to work on imprinting by extending it to networks and in theorizing the social mechanisms that result in the persistence of social forms. Furthermore, it contributes to work on directorship networks by suggesting that the way information flows through this network may be geographically contingent.