The field of studies of inter-organizational cooperation networks in Brazil

The aim of this article is to provide more evidence on the characteristics of the field of studies of inter-organizational cooperation networks in the Brazilian context. The field research was carried out through a bibliometric study of 116 academic articles published in the major scientific journals in the field of organizational studies between 2000 and 2006. The methodological procedures followed the guidelines of the study of Oliver and Ebers (1998). The main results obtained from the bibliometric study were: (1) four theories - strategy, resource dependence, network and institutional - consolidate a predominant conceptual base in the orientation of the studies; (2) the research was mainly carried out by qualitative and cross sectional methods; (3) horizontal networks, material and immaterial antecedent resources, as well as the learning and innovation outcomes, were the main focus of the studies in the Brazilian context; (4) the theories of strategy, resource dependence, transaction, social network and institutional costs are considerably over-represented with regard to their Bonacich centrality; (5) the network theory had a strong level of betweenness centrality among the many theories considered in this study.