Organizations represent medium-scale social settings for studying networks, solidarity, and inequality. This cluster addresses causes, processes, and consequences of formal and informal governance in and between organizations, with an emphasis on social networks as antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of governance and on how governance affects solidarity and inequality. The cluster considers (a) relationships of corporate social actors (such as firms) with persons within these corporate actors (such as employees); (b) relationships between persons inside organizations (e.g., relationships in teams of professionals); and (c) relationships between organizations as well as relationships between organizations and their clients.

1. Various societal developments are the background for research on relationships between firms and employees as well as relationships between employees. Changes in the legal framework for employment contracts allow more flexible employment relationships, thus changing the conditions for solidarity and cooperation inside the firm. Technological innovations facilitate the collection and use of large amounts of work-related information. The increasing labor market participation of women results in time-allocation dilemmas for the growing number of double earner households, adding a new dimension to the debate on social inequality. These developments put pressure on traditional forms of governance but also can hamper the development and stabilization of its major alternative, informal networks.

2. Research on the relationship between corporate actors such as firms and on the relationship between corporate actors and their clients will be further developed along three lines. The first one involves the role of network embeddedness in the governance of inter-firm cooperation. The second line tackles the question how firms and organizations respond to an increased pressure to legitimize their actions not only in terms of economic performance, but also in terms of the social and environmental implications of their activities. The third line covers the changing nature of collective decision making processes and the role played in such processes by social networks which can facilitate or impede access to other decision makers.