Regional Interorganizational Networks and Managers’ Orientation toward Social Responsibility
William D. Oberman

Abstract
This study employed a network autoregression model to examine the effects of position and relationships in a regional network of managerial elites on beliefs about social responsibility. Data from a survey of top level managers and directors in a corporate headquarters city were combined with network data based on interlocking directorates. One of the two social responsibility orientations tested, a limited, free market orientation, termed Friedmanism, was found to be affected by both network position and relations; a more expansive orientation toward social responsibility was not. Other variables that were related to these orientations included employment in the service sector, local birth, communication with representatives of the nonprofit sector, and communication with family members about CSR issues.

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