Emerging technologies, institutional groups and inter-organisational networks: The case of microneedles
研究了新兴技术（微针）发展过程中，制度逻辑如何影响组织间合作网络的形成，发现制度同质性（同一群体内合作）驱动网络形成，但效果因群体和技术发展阶段而异。
This paper extends our understanding of how institutional logics contribute to inter-organisational collaboration formation during the emergence of a technology. We classify organisations into five institutional groups – Government (GOV), Healthcare (HC), Industry (IND), Non-Governmental (NGO), and Research and Higher Education (RHE). We then examine the extent to which collaborative relationships within (homophily) and across (heterophily) these groups shape network dynamics. We focus on an emerging technology, namely, microneedles, and estimate a series of Exponential Random Graphs Models (ERGMs) using publication co-authorship data. Our analysis provides evidence that institutional homophily contributes to the formation of inter-organisational ties – indicating that organisational actors tend to establish ties within their group rather than across different groups. However, the impact of this mechanism varies across groups and phases of technological emergence. In the early development stages, institutional homophily drives the formation of homophilous ties within the GOV and IND groups, where collaborations focus on basic technical challenges. This is followed by the HC group, where collaborations centre around clinical applications. In the later development stages, homophily continues to influence the formation of intra-group ties among the GOV, IND, HC, and NGO groups, with collaborations expanding to clinical applications and informing decision-making processes. • Institutional homophily shapes the formation of inter-organisational ties when technologies emerge. • The effect of institutional homophily varies by institutional group and emergence phase. • In the early emergence phases, GOV and IND actors are more likely to form within-group ties. • In the later emergence phases, institutional homophily affects the formation of ties for most of the actors. • The formation of inter-organisational ties involving RHE actors is not affected by institutional homophily.