DiMaggio (1986): Structural Analysis of Organizational Fields: A Blockmodel Approach

Abstract

Approaches to partitioning interorganizational networks into subgroups are discussed, a set of criteria for evaluating partitioning approaches is developed, and blockmodeling, (or structural-equivalence analysis) is recommended as being consistent with theoretical demands of the interorganizational perspective. Blockmodeling is illustrated in an analysis of the structure of the organizational field of American resident nonprofit theaters. Applicability to ethnographic research, to identifying niches in population-ecology studies, and to treating intraorganizational conflict in interorganizational research is discussed.