RELATIONAL-PLURALISM-WITHIN-AND-between-organizati

rAcademyofManagementJournal2015,Vol.1015,No.1,90–100.(actor)hasanessencefromwhichitsidentityderives.Butanal-ternativeperspectiveisthatidentityoriginatesinrelationswithotherentities(Simmel,1950)orotherpeople(James,1890).Applyingthisrelationalper-spectivemayrevealhithertoneglectedorunnoticedaspectsofhowidentityrelatestosocialactionandthestructureofsocialsystems(White,1992).Organizations,ascomplexadaptivesystems,areembeddedinheterogeneousnetworksconsistingofmanydifferentkindsofnodes(people,projects,machines,buildings).Understandinghowthesenetworksinterrelateofferstheopportunitytoun-covernewpathwaysforresearch(Kilduff,Cross-land,Tsai,&Krackhardt,2008;Shipilov,2012).Wedefine“relationalpluralism”astheextenttowhichafocalentity(aperson,ateam,oranorganization)derivesitsmeaninganditspotentialforactionfromrelationsofmultiplekindswithotherentities.Abroadarrayofdifferentrelationshipscancoexistamongthesamesetofactors(Granovetter,1973;Ibarra,1993),whereaseachactormayhavemultipleidentities.Instudyingrelationalpluralism,weareinterestedinhowvariedrelationshipscanbecharacterizednotjustasmultiplex,butalsoasmultifaceted,andintheirimpactonidentities.Scholarsarealreadybeginningtoexaminethephenomenonofrelationalpluralismanditsimpli-cations.Moststudieshavefocusedontheimplica-tionsofrelationshipsforactoridentity,butmorerecentworkhasbeguntoconsidertheimplicationsoftie(relationship,network)pluralismforidentity.Somestudieshavemaintainedafocusonidentityshiftswithoutexploringtherelationalbasisofidentityformation.Attheindividuallevel,forin-stance,workonhowindividualsdevelopmultipleidentities(Pratt&Rafaeli,1997)hasnotdirectlyexaminedhowsuchidentitiesshiftdependingontheconfigurationofheterogeneousrelationsinor-ganizationalsettings(Kilduff&Tsai,2003;Mehra,Kilduff,&Brass,1998).Atthedyadiclevel,weknowthattheextenttowhichpeopleconfirmeachWethankMaximSytchandPavelZhelyazkovfortheirfeedbackonanearlierdraftofthisintroduction.WealsothankJasonColquitt,theassociateeditorsofAMJ,and,especially,MichaelMalgrande,formakingthisspecialissuehappen.90CopyrightoftheAcademyofManagement,allrightsreserved.Contentsmaynotbecopied,emailed,postedtoalistserv,orotherwisetransmittedwithoutthecopyrightholder’sexpresswrittenpermission.Usersmayprint,download,oremailarticlesforindividualuseonly.other’sidentitiesaffectscooperationandperfor-manceatwork(Milton&Westphal,2005).Buttheserichprocessesofidentityconfirmationhaveyettobeexploredwithaneyetoconflictingidentitiesderivedfromapluralityofrelations.Atthefirmlevel,thereareconflictingargumentsabouttheconsequencesofrelationalpluralism,rangingfromtherecognitionthatmultiplexityininter-firmrela-tionshipsshapescompetitiveactionsandperfor-manceoutcomes(Baker&Faulkner,2002;Gimeno&Woo,1996)towarningsthatheterogeneousrelationscandamagestockmarketvalue(Zuckerman,1999).Theoriginsandconsequencesofrelationalplu-ralismarebecomingafertileareaofinquiry,andthisspecialissueistestimonytothatinterest.Thisintroductiontotheissuereviewstheliteratureonrelationalpluralismandoffersaconceptualmodelthatexaminestheantecedentsandconsequencesofrelationalpluralismwithinandbetweenorgan-izations.Theoutcomesofrelationalpluralism,forbothindividualsandorganizations,canrangefromgreaterflexibilityinbuildingnetworkties,tomorestableexchangerelationships,totheabilitytoadopttailoredinnovations.Wealsoexaminethedarksideofrelationalpluralism,reviewthecontentsofthisspe-cialissue,andoutlinedirectionsforfutureresearch.THECONCEPTOFRELATIONALPLURALISMEarlyconceptualworkonrelationalpluralismwasdonebyscholarsoforganizationalnetworksandidentity.Onepossiblemanifestationofrelationalpluralismintheorganizationalnetworksliteratureis“multiplexity,”whichcanbedefinedasthepresenceofmultipletypesofrelationshipsbetweenthesameactors.Harary(1956)wasperhapsthefirsttosuggestthatitisimportanttostudythe“mixtureofrelations”betweenindividuals,suchas“socialchoice,com-munication,formalandinformalpower,”because“theactualgroupofpeoplegenerallyhasmorethanonerelationsimultaneouslyoperating.”Verbrugge(1979)definedmultiplexityas“theoverlapofroles,exchangesoraffiliations.”Granovetter(1973)in-corporatedmultiplexityinhisdefinitionofastrongtieasonebetweenactorswhohavemultipletieswithonea