The interpersonal structure of decision making: A social comparison approach to organizational choice

The effects of workplace friendship network centrality on deep acting

We integrated social network theory with conservation of resource theory to predict that workplace friendship network centrality provides service employees with critical psychological resources that foster deep acting: positive affect and positive self-perception. In Study 1, we conducted a survey (N = 105) in a Korean banking firm, revealing that these resources mediate the relationship between workplace friendship network centrality and deep acting. Studies 2 and 3, both experimental studies, investigated the hypothesized causal relationships. In Study 2 (N = 151), we found that workplace friendship network centrality increases the intention toward deep acting. Further, Study 3 (N = 140) confirmed the direct effects of friendship network centrality on positive affect and self-perception. By providing insights into the structural antecedents of emotional labor, we inform managers in service organizations of the value of creating avenues for their employees to form and maintain friendships within the organization.

Social-technical network effects in open source software communities: understanding the impacts of dependency networks on project success

Purpose

To better understand the success of an open source software (OSS) project, this study aims to examine the role of social dependency networks (i.e. social and technical dependencies) in online communities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focuses on dependencies using three network metrics – degree centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality – in developer and module networks. A longitudinal analysis from the projects hosted at Sourceforge.net is conducted to examine the effects of social and technical networks on the success of OSS projects. To address our research questions, we have constructed research models to investigate the social network effects in developer networks, the technical network effects in module networks, and the social-technical network effects in both types of networks.

Findings

The results reveal nonlinear relationships between degree centrality in both social and technical networks and OSS success, highlighting the importance of a moderate level of degree centrality in team structure and software architecture. Meanwhile, a moderate level of betweenness centrality and a lower level of closeness centrality between developers lead to a higher chance of OSS project success.

Originality/value

This study is the first attempt to consider the network metrics in both module networks of the technical sub-system and developer networks of the social sub-system to better understand their influences on project success.

How Network Embeddedness Affects Real-Time Performance Feedback: An Empirical Investigation

Firms and organizations are increasingly using real-time performance feedback mechanisms to evaluate employees, where any employee (rather than just the supervisor) can rate other employees. Hence, a need arises to better understand how network positions of employees in such a system impact their performance. Analyzing nearly 4,000 feedback instances from employees at five major organizations that utilize such a real-time performance feedback application called DevelapMe, we explore the effects of network embeddedness—or the nature of relationships among employees—on performance rating scores according to two dimensions of embeddedness: (i) positional, the position of an individual in the emerging network of performance ratings, and (ii) structural, the extent to which a person is entrenched in a network of relationships. We visualize rating networks within organizations: Employees are nodes, and connections between nodes exist if an evaluation between the pair occurs. We find that specific aspects of network embeddedness affect performance rating scores differently. Our findings have important implications for the design of performance management systems using network analysis.

The Importance of Peer Mentoring, Identity Work and Holding Environments: A Study of African American Leadership Development

Mentoring is well-known for its positive impact on diversity and inclusion across a wide variety of organizational contexts. Despite these demonstrated advantages, efforts to develop diverse leaders either through access to informal mentoring relationships or via formal mentoring programs are often complex, expensive, and frequently produce mixed results. We examine the unique impact of peer mentoring to support and develop African American leaders using a formalized program approach. Our findings show that peer mentoring is effective in providing a safe environment for the necessary work of identity to take place among African American leaders. This identity work takes the form of holding behaviors such as enabling perspectives, empathic acknowledgement and containment that are critical for the development, support and validation of diverse leaders. Our findings clearly show the benefit of external identity peer mentors for providing support and validation for African American leaders that can be absent within traditional hierarchical mentoring. By examining the outcomes of an actual leadership development program over time, we provide recommendations on how to enhance diverse leadership development by recognizing and cultivating the positive impact of identity-based peer mentoring.

New Network Models for the Analysis of Social Contagion in Organizations: An Introduction to Autologistic Actor Attribute Models

Autologistic actor attribute models (ALAAMs) provide new analytical opportunities to advance research on how individual attitudes, cognitions, behaviors, and outcomes diffuse through networks of social relations in which individuals in organizations are embedded. ALAAMs add to available statistical models of social contagion the possibility of formulating and testing competing hypotheses about the specific mechanisms that shape patterns of adoption/diffusion. The main objective of this article is to provide an introduction and a guide to the specification, estimation, interpretation and evaluation of ALAAMs. Using original data, we demonstrate the value of ALAAMs in an analysis of academic performance and social networks in a class of graduate management students. We find evidence that both high and low performance are contagious, that is, diffuse through social contact. However, the contagion mechanisms that contribute to the diffusion of high performance and low performance differ subtly and systematically. Our results help us identify new questions that ALAAMs allow us to ask, new answers they may be able to provide, and the constraints that need to be relaxed to facilitate their more general adoption in organizational research.

What Happens to Others Matters! An Intraindividual Processual Approach to Coworkers’ Psychological Contract Violations

Drawing on recent research highlighting the dynamic and social properties of psychological contracts, we propose a framework that examines socially embedded triggers and their impact on psychological contract change. Our model accounts for the social context in which individuals’ sensemaking process about their employment relationship occurs. The model specifies how individuals make sense of coworkers’ psychological contract violation and integrate that information into the creation of a plausible convergent or divergent account. These accounts have the potential to reinforce or initiate a review of the terms of the individual’s psychological contract schema, or they may leave the schema intact. Research and practical implications of this conceptual framework are discussed.

Building social capital and learning relationships through knowledge sharing: a social network approach of management students’ cases

Purpose

This study has adopted theoretical frameworks of social capital, social networks and the Community of Practice to study how different types of relationships influence the knowledge sharing relationship. This paper aims to suggest that building social capital, particularly structural capital, is part of expected key in knowledge sharing networks.

Design/methodology/approach

Using social capital theory, through social network analysis of 111 management students in the US business school, identified key social capital dimension in knowledge sharing networks. To incorporate the interdependency among examined relationships, network logistic regression with the quadric assignment procedure was used.

Findings

The proposed research model showed that about 98% of the existence of knowledge sharing relationship could be correctly predicted. Among three dimensions of social capital, this study found a superior influence of the structural dimension (i.e. task interdependence) in predicting having a knowledge sharing relationship. The significant effect of trust and friendship network on knowledge sharing was also found. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research were also discussed.

Originality/value

Existing literature as to how people learn through knowledge sharing is limited in at least two important ways. First, scholars of knowledge management acknowledge that organizational knowledge originates from dyadic relationships between or among individuals at work. However, prior research has heavily relied on survey responses from one’s perception of knowledge sharing experience, viewing as unidirectional. Second, substantial attention of prior research has been devoted to the factors of individual attributes. Emphasizing individual interactions as the fundamental building blocks of learning, this study focuses more on relational characteristics of knowledge sharing based on social capital theory.

The Integration of People and Networks

Social networks involve ties (and their absence) between people in social settings such as organizations. Yet much social network research, given its roots in sociology, ignores the individuality of people in emphasizing the constraints of the structural positions that people occupy. A recent movement to bring people back into social network research draws on the rich history of social psychological research to show that ( a) personality (i.e., self-monitoring) is key to understanding individuals’ occupation of social network positions, ( b) individuals’ perceptions of social networks relate to important outcomes, and ( c) relational energy is transmitted through social network connections. Research at different levels of analysis includes the network around the individual (the ego network), dyadic ties, triadic structures, and whole networks of interacting individuals. We call for future research concerning personality and structure, social network change, perceptions of networks, and cross-cultural differences in how social network connections are understood.

The Co-evolution of Organizational and Network Structure: The Role of Multilevel Mixing and Closure Mechanisms

We present a dynamic multilevel framework for analyzing the mutual dependence of change in interorganizational networks and internal organizational structure. Change occurring at the former (interorganizational) level involves decisions to change the portfolio of network ties to external partners. Change occurring in the latter (intraorganizational) level involves decisions to change the portfolio of internal activities. We estimate a recently derived class of stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs) that we adopt and adapt to specify how decisions to change internal portfolios of activities and external portfolios of partners are connected by theoretically derived multilevel mechanisms that link organizational and network structures. We show that statistical models for multilevel networks reproduce with high fidelity the structural regularities observed in the distribution of (a) activities within organizations, (b) network ties between organizations, and (c) knowledge available in the organizational field. We discuss the implications of the study for theory development, and for empirical research on interorganizational and other kinds of multilevel networks.

Perception accuracy, biases and path dependency in longitudinal social networks

Most studies on perceptions of social structures in organizations rely on cross-sectional evidence and lack a longitudinal perspective. In order to address this gap, we collected whole network perception data at three time points from a cohort of MBA students. First, we asked whether or not individuals become more accurate in their perception of the network over time. We found no significant increase in accuracy. Second, we examined one’s perception of his or her own direct ties and found a consistent tendency to inflate incoming friendship ties, confirming existing studies. However, we find that individuals were quite capable of recognizing the broader dynamics of social hierarchy (i.e., whether they were becoming more or less popular) even as they became no more accurate in understanding either the overall networks or their own ego-net. Third, we explored possible explanations for the persistence of perception errors and showed that most of the errors at time point two and time point three were due to a failure to update previous perception decisions. Finally, we shifted the analysis from accuracy at a given time point and considered the narrative arc of dyadic relations. Our findings suggest that stable dyads across time are more likely to be accurately perceived whereas other types of dyads are poorly tracked. We conclude by presenting possible research questions for future studies to further our understanding of the temporal aspects of network perception.

Vocational Rehabilitation Service Patterns: An Application of Social Network Analysis to Examine Employment Outcomes of Transition-Age Individuals With Autism

Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face poor employment outcomes following transition from school to adult life. Social network analysis is a useful approach for examining service patterns associated with employment success for this population. An advantage of this approach is its focus on the interdependence of variables rather than individual predictors. This study applies network methodology to examine the relations between vocational rehabilitation services and young adults with ASD to predict employment status. Using the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911) data set, participants included 2,219 individuals with ASD between the ages of 16 and 24 served by the public vocational rehabilitation system and closed as either competitively employed or not employed. A two-mode network was constructed such that a relation was defined for each service an individual received. Results from a core-periphery analysis indicated that of the 22 services available, core services included assessment, counseling/guidance, job placement, on-the-job support, job search support, and transportation services. Follow-up analyses suggested that the greater number of these six core services an individual received, the better the employment outcome. Findings highlight that these services should be viewed as interconnected and suggest a set of six core services that may be particularly beneficial for this population.

Follow the Leader?

This article examines career decision making in the rapidly changing organizational and employment context at the end of the 20th century, the context some scholars have called the “boundaryless career” environment. The particular focus is the extent to which different sources of social influence and the combination of such sources affect employer choice: specifically, whether individuals conform to a dominant employer choice (i.e., make a popular employment decision). Hypotheses are tested with survey data on a sample of master of business administration students in the process of making career decisions for their work lives following graduate school. Results provide compelling evidence that normative sources of social influence have a significant effect on compliance with the dominant employer choice whereas informational sources of influence, such as one’s network of advisors, do not. Implications for how different types of social influence may affect different types of career decisions in today’s work environment are discussed.

A model for the multiplex dynamics of two-mode and one-mode networks, with an application to employment preference, friendship, and advice

We propose a new stochastic actor-oriented model for the co-evolution of two-mode and one-mode networks. The model posits that activities of a set of actors, represented in the two-mode network, co-evolve with exchanges and interactions between the actors, as represented in the one-mode network. The model assumes that the actors, not the activities, have agency. The empirical value of the model is demonstrated by examining how employment preferences co-evolve with friendship and advice relations in a group of seventy-five MBA students. The analysis shows that activity in the two-mode network, as expressed by number of employment preferences, is related to activity in the friendship network, as expressed by outdegrees. Further, advice ties between students lead to agreement with respect to employment preferences. In addition, considering the multiplexity of advice and friendship ties yields a better understanding of the dynamics of the advice relation: tendencies to reciprocation and homophily in advice relations are mediated to an important extent by friendship relations. The discussion pays attention to the implications of this study in the broader context of current efforts to model the co-evolutionary dynamics of social networks and individual behavior.

Why Are Some More Peer Than Others? Evidence from a Longitudinal Study of Social Networks and Individual Academic Performance

Studies of peer effects in educational settings confront two main problems. The first is the presence of endogenous sorting which confounds the effects of social influence and social selection on individual attainment. The second is how to account for the local network dependencies through which peer effects influence individual behavior. We empirically address these problems using longitudinal data on academic performance, friendship, and advice seeking relations among students in a full-time graduate academic program. We specify stochastic agent-based models that permit estimation of the interdependent contribution of social selection and social influence to individual performance. We report evidence of peer effects. Students tend to assimilate the average performance of their friends and of their advisors. At the same time, students attaining similar levels of academic performance are more likely to develop friendship and advice ties. Together, these results imply that processes of social influence and social selection are sub-components of a more general a co-evolutionary process linking network structure and individual behavior. We discuss possible points of contact between our findings and current research in the economics and sociology of education.

Effects of a Group Intervention on the Career Network Ties of Finnish Adolescents

The authors evaluated how a group-based career intervention affected career network ties among Finnish adolescents as they made educational choices and prepared for their transition to secondary education. They examined the career-related network ties of 868 students during their last year in comprehensive school (junior high school) in a randomized field experimental study. The results indicated that immediately after the intervention, the group method lowered the density of participants' career networks, that is, the participants' network ties were less interconnected. The results further showed that about 6 months after the intervention, the program had increased the number of school counselors named as network ties.

Friends Don't Make Friends Good Citizens, But Advisors Do

The authors explore whether employees' willingness to perform organization citizenship behavior (OCB), or go “above and beyond” what is required by their jobs, is affected by social influence. The authors draw on social information processing and social learning theories to argue that OCB is contagious, or affected by the OCB of employees with whom a focal employee maintains social network ties. A study of admissions department employees reveals that strong advice ties between employees are positively and significantly related to similarity in OCB, whereas strong friendship ties and weak ties are not. Implications for research and practice, including suggestions for influencing ethical behavior in organizations, are discussed.

Junior medical officer recruitment: Challenges and lessons from the Northern Territory

OBJECTIVE

To examine the influence of newspaper and Internet advertising, word-of-mouth endorsement and student experience in attracting applicants for junior medical officer positions in the Northern Territory.

DESIGN

A retrospective study.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-four applicants for junior medical officer positions.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Proportion of applicants who reported newspaper advertising, Internet advertising, word of mouth or personal experience in attracting their application for an intern or resident medical officer position.

RESULTS

Nineteen per cent of applicants saw the newspaper advertisement and 52% of the Internet advertisement. Eighty-seven per cent of applicants were influenced by word-of-mouth endorsement and 52% by student experience in the Northern Territory or Indigenous health.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that word-of-mouth endorsement has the greatest influence in attracting applicants for junior medical officer positions in Northern Territory hospitals.

The interactive effects of recruitment practices and product awareness on job seekers' employer knowledge and application behaviors

In this article, the author draws on research from the literature on marketing and recruitment to identify how recruitment practices and company product awareness are related to job seekers' application behaviors through 3 aspects of job seekers' employer knowledge. Based on results from a within-subject design with data from 123 recruiting companies and 456 student job seekers, the author's findings suggest that the relationships between recruitment strategies and application intentions and decisions are moderated by product awareness. Specifically, low-information recruitment practices are significantly and positively related to application behaviors through employer familiarity and employer reputation when product awareness is low. In contrast, high-information recruitment practices are related to job seekers' application behaviors through employer reputation and job information when product awareness is high.

The relationship between early recruitment-related activities and the application decisions of new labor-market entrants: a brand equity approach to recruitment

Theory and research from the marketing literature on customer-based brand equity were used to predict how positive exposure to 4 early recruitment-related activities-publicity, sponsorships, word-of-mouth endorsements, and advertising-may affect the application decisions of engineering students. Similar to prior marketing findings, the results suggested that early recruitment-related activities were indirectly related to intentions and decisions through 2 dimensions of employer brand image: general attitudes toward the company and perceived job attributes. The relationships between word-of-mouth endorsements and the 2 dimensions of brand image were particularly strong. In addition, it was found that early recruitment-related activities interacted with one another such that employer brand image was stronger when firms used publicity in conjunction with other early recruitment-related activities.

Applicant self-selection: correlates of withdrawal from a multiple hurdle process

The authors examined applicant self-selection from a multiple hurdle hiring process. The relationships of the selection status of 3,550 police applicants (self-selected out prior to 1 of the hurdles, passing, or failing) and perceptions of the organization, commitment to a law enforcement job, expectations regarding the job, employment status, the need to relocate, the opinions of family and friends, and perceptions of the hiring process were examined. Differences between those who stayed in the process and those who self-selected out were observed in most areas, and those who self-selected out at early stages differed from those self-selecting out at later stages. African Americans' and women's perceptions also differed from the majority group, indicating some of the difficulties an organization faces in attempting to diversify.

Choosing Work Group Members: Balancing Similarity, Competence, and Familiarity

This study explores one of the contributors to group composition-the basis on which people choose others with whom they want to work. We use a combined model to explore individual attributes, relational attributes, and previous structural ties as determinants of work partner choice. Four years of data from participants in 33 small project groups were collected, some of which reflects individual participant characteristics and some of which is social network data measuring the previous relationship between two participants. Our results suggest that when selecting future group members people are biased toward others of the same race, others who have a reputation for being competent and hard working, and others with whom they have developed strong working relationships in the past. These results suggest that people strive for predictability when choosing future work group members. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.