| dc.description.abstract | The focus of this research is networks and the roles of network activators, studied in the context of the networking process. For the purposes of this study, the formerly used description of network actor was developed into a more active network actor, from now on named the network activator. The purpose was to understand how the roles of the network activators differ in the process of networking when operating inside and outside the business company. The main research question in this study was: What roles do the network activators have in the process of business networking? Furthermore, two more specific sub-questions were generated: What kind of experiences the network activators have of the network actors and what type of expectations the network activators have when it comes to network actors? The objective of the study was to explore the networking phenomenon and especially to find out how network activators are seen in the networking process. Eighteen respondents were chosen by snowball sampling for the thematic interviews. The phenomenographic method was used in the research with a qualitatively orientated approach. This study was limited to the views based on the experiences and expectations by public agents, consultants, managing directors, leading entrepreneurs, subcontractors and netpreneurs chosen for the interviews. The research was data-driven and therefore the theoretical terminology and framework were abductively built on the conditions of the empirical material. In accordance with the Katz & Kahn (1978) role theory, the new role conceptions were found to be the role conception of the mapper from the public actor’s part, the role conceptions of the weaver and the skillful leader from the consultant’s part, and the role conception of the activator from the CEO´s part. When the networking processes are compared stage by stage, it becomes apparent that network activators have varying role expectations, depending on the stages of the networking processes. Based on the findings of this study, similar roles emerge that are of a novel type and previously not dealt with in the role discussion of network activators. These new role conceptions are the role conceptions of the presenter of successes, the overall perception manager and the authority from the public actor’s part, the role conceptions of the moderator and the freeworker from the consultant’s part, the role conception of the recogniser from the CEO´s part; the role conceptions of the administrator, the senser of possibilities and the supporter from the leading entrepreneur’s and subcontractor’s part. No new role conceptions emerged from the netpreneur’s part. In the case of different network activators, several individual roles were discovered. | en |
