A population ecology of network domains

ABSTRACT

Purpose-oriented networks (PONs) are a crucial and prevalent forum for addressing complex public issues. Using a longitudinal bipartite dataset of 74 PONs nested in three different geographic areas, we test a series of hypotheses, based in population ecology theories, concerning the impact of domain-level dynamics on network-level outcomes. Findings offer substantial support for, and insight into, the relevance of population-level dynamics in explaining organizational, network, and domain-level changes over time. Findings further offer practical insight and a cautionary tale for public and philanthropic initiatives that incentivize or mandate the formation of new PONs in a network domain.

KEYWORDS:

• Network domain
• purpose-oriented networks
• organizational ecology
• stochastic actor-oriented models

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2023.2182903