Structure, culture and Simmelian ties in entrepreneurial firms

This article develops a cultural agreement approach to organizational culture that emphasizes how clusters of individuals reinforce potentially idiosyncratic understandings of many aspects of culture including the structure of network relations. Building on recent work concerning Simmelian tied dyads (defined as dyads embedded in three-person cliques), the research examines perceptions concerning advice and friendship relations in three entrepreneurial firms. The results support the idea that Simmelian tied dyads (relative to dyads in general) reach higher agreement concerning who is tied to whom, and who are embedded together in triads in organizations. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.