Boundary-spanning activities in electronics firms

This paper reports on a study of boundary-spanning activities in 24 West Coast electronics firms. Boundary-spanning activity was found to be significantly related to perceptions of the external environment's importance and controllability, and to the boundary spanner's functional position. Contrary to some prior research, no significant relationship was found between environmental unpredictability and overall boundary-spanning activity, although a moderate relationship was found with monitoring activity. The complexity of these relationships was illustrated by several variations within the general pattern of results, and by graphical profiles of boundary-spanning activities for a number of specific functions and positions.