INFLUENCE OF POWER IN BUSINESS NETWORKS - ANALYSIS OF THE THEORY'S EVOLUTION

ABSTRACT

This research aims to understand how power relations are addressed in organizations literature, with a systematic literature review of the Thomson Reuters (ISI) Web of Science Database. Although the literature on interorganizational relationships recognizes the critical role of power, a succession of theories with different empirical, theoretical and methodological perspectives demonstrates that there is still a lack of consensus about which actors hold the power in these contexts. The research questions are: How do recent studies in business networks deal with power? What are the implications of the main theoretical paradigms used? Analysis of the selected publications points to the multiplicity of theoretical perspectives on power in the literature and indicates an increased interest in the subject over time. The major theoretical perspectives identified are the Resource Dependency Theory; the Network Exchange Theory; and the Transaction Costs Theory. These theories are discussed under the theoretical framework and a set of conceptual propositions is defined in order to assess the implications of the paradigms associated with each theoretical stream.

Keywords:
Power; Business Networks; Paradigms