The dynamics of inter-organizational ties during crises: empirical evidence and computational analysis

Organizations often rely on social networks in order to garner resources for survival, in particular when faced with a crisis. From a resource dependence perspective, this paper addresses two issues regarding the dynamics of inter-organizational ties during crisis situations: (a) what is the usual process organizations use, and (b) how efficient is such a process? Two real world crisis cases show that, in a crisis situation, organizations tend to follow a cascade process in which they rely on stronger ties first until there is additional resource needs before activating weaker ties. This process can go on until all the resource needs are met and the stable stage is reached. Results from a computational model simulating such a cascade process and a contrast process, the sequential/random process, show that organizations following the cascade process can exhibit much higher efficiency, though there is a decreasing effect as the severity of the crisis increases. This study has not only illustrated the real world process of organizational ties during crises empirically but also provided theoretical rationales for such inter-organizational dynamics. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.