Abstract:

In this study, based on the extensive literature on organizational network mechanisms, it is aimed to determine which formal and informal networks the entrepreneurial actors in Turkey have and the reasons for being in these networks. Relational processes among business people were examined, and quantitative research methods such as observation and survey were adopted. The universe of the research consists of 156 large industrial enterprises and 257 business people of these industrial enterprises, selected by deliberate sampling method from the large industrial enterprises included in the list of ISO Turkey's top 500 industrial enterprises in 2019. Ucinet 6 software programs were used for the analysis of the social network data of business people and SPSS 13 software programs were used for the analysis of the data on the reasons for the participation of these business people in the networks. As a result of the analyzes made in line with the purpose of the research, it has been determined that the network relations of Turkish entrepreneurs and the reasons for their participation in networks may have characteristics specific to the country context. It has been determined that the nature of the social networks that business people representing business organizations participate in and the purposes of being included in these networks in the context of Turkey produce different results from countries included in the Anglo Saxon culture, where social network theory has been developed and heavily researched. It has been determined that the observed and expected variability in the reasons for joining social networks of business people are parallel to the framework of social embeddedness theory.

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