No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Positive Externalities of Social Capital: Benefiting from Senior Brokers
Abstract
The importance of an actor’s network to his/her private benefits is well explored. Less well understood are the positive externalities of social capital, that is whether an actor’s social capital “spills-over” and improves the outcomes of those to whom s/he is connected, creating broader, not just private, benefits. This paper examines how investment bankers add value to one another in the course of everyday work. Our concern is with a banker’s second-order social capital. The main question is whether being connected to a broker matters to the ability of the focal actor to add value to those around him/her. We argue and find that connecting to brokers matters contingent upon the broker being more senior than the focal actor. The networks of contacts who are of higher rank and/or the focal actor’s leader positively contribute to the ability of the focal actor to add value. Second-order social capital does matter, contingent on the contacts: senior brokers.
... The theoretical lens of social capital-with its focus on social relations and their embedded resources-represents a valuable opportunity for this discipline (Ali-Hassan 2013). Numerous studies from the IS research field have already adopted various methods, such as social network analysis, to study social capital empirically (e.g., Galunic et al. 2012). In the future, the empirical analysis of social capital, as a dependent and independent variable, can be further promoted in hitherto unprecedented ways due to the growth in data opportunities (Agarwal and Dhar 2014;Takac et al. 2011). ...
... 14 (16%) of the reviewed studies applied Nahapiet's and Ghoshal's (1998) framework to study social capital (e.g., Wasko and Faraj 2005). However, 66 (75%) papers solely utilized the structural operationalizations of social capital (e.g., Franzen and Pointner 2011;Galunic et al. 2012). This finding parallels Kwon and Adler's (2014, p. 416) remark about the recent social capital research: ...
... Knowing the challenges associated with social capital research can promote the consistent use of operationalizations, which in turn will strengthen both theoretical rigor and the generalizability of research findings. • Network size (e.g., Ahearne et al. 2014;Hinz et al. 2015;McFadyen and Cannella 2004;Ravindran et al. 2015;Wasko and Faraj 2005) • Number of weak ties (e.g., Gargiulo and Benassi 2000;Seibert et al. 2001) • Repeated collaboration among team members (e.g., Singh et al. 2011) • Informational value of external ties (ratio of external to internal ties) and prestige (in-degree) (Ahearne et al. 2014) • Open network structure/Structural holes (synonyms brokerage or network sparseness) - Burt's (1992) network constraint index (e.g., Carnabuci and Diószegi 2015;Fleming and Waguespack 2007;Kleinbaum 2012;Singh et al. 2011;Xiao and Tsui 2007) -One minus network density (e.g., Rodan and Galunic 2004) -Improbability of interaction among members of the company (Kleinbaum 2012) -Betweenness centrality (Faraj et al. 2015) • Closed network structure -Density (Galunic et al. 2012) ...
The objective of this article is to review current empirical literature on social capital, a term that broadly refers to the valuable resources derived from interpersonal relations in social networks. A better understanding of this concept can advance research in many domains, particularly as they relate to topics affected by social ties and their embedded resources, such as knowledge sharing and Web 2.0. We examined quantitative studies from top-ranked business-oriented and sociological journals published prior to 2016 that proposed an operationalization of social capital. Based on these criteria, we identified 88 peer-reviewed studies that examine the effect of social capital in different areas. Our review confirms the concept’s basic tenet and shows that researchers from different domains link social capital to a variety of business-oriented and sociological phenomena. However, our state-of-the-art analysis also identifies certain shortcomings of recent social capital research. Thus, the article concludes with a discussion of the challenges inherent to this research stream and proposes some avenues for future growth. In addition, this article can serve a go-to resource for operationalizing social capital that considers the concept’s multidimensionality and provides valuable guidance to scholars looking to conduct their own research in this area.
... These indirect actors cluster into subgroups and possess information the focal firm needs to access, despite the lack of direct connections (Burt 1992). The role of bridging the focal firm to indirectly connected subgroups (or bridging structural holes) within a network is facilitated by actors known as exchange brokers (Galunic et al. 2012). ...
... This requires the reliance of the focal firm on direct suppliers to cascade codes and standards to sub-suppliers that are not directly connected (Tachizawa and Wong 2014;Grimm et al. 2014). However, the overall nature of relationships in a network effects the information relayed by the brokering firm (Galunic et al. 2012). The majority of existing research addressing the diffusion of sustainable practices has focused on internal practices or dyadic relationships rather than on supply networks (Tate et al. 2014) and does not address the importance of noneconomic stakeholders such as NGOs. ...
... The critical nature of linkages between a focal firm and indirectly connected resources (actors or subgroups of actors) is explained by the concept of structural holes (Burt 1992(Burt , 2002, which proposes that the actors bridging information between the focal firm and indirectly connected actors and subgroups are critical for explaining how information is passed in the network. These bridging actors are also known as ''brokers'' in the social network, due to their role of brokering the relationship between the focal firm and indirectly connected actors, and they have been shown to have an important influence on effective information exchanges in a social network by their ability to span groups and facilitate information flow (Galunic et al. 2012;Kim et al. 2006). ...
Ethical sourcing and socially responsible purchasing is increasingly on the business agenda, but developing and implementing policy and practice across a global network of suppliers is challenging. The purpose of this paper is to expand theory on the nature of linkages between firms in a social network, specifically postulating how ties between organizations can be configured to facilitate development, diffusion and adoption of sustainability initiatives. The theory development provides a lens with which to view the influence of a firm's structural embeddedness in its organizational social network on developing, diffusing and adopting sustainability initiatives. The focus is on brokers who in various structural alignments help bridge the focal firm's sustainability initiatives with distant or disconnected stakeholders the focal firm is trying to reach. The brokers help the focal firm engage these stakeholders by sharing knowledge and information regarding sustainability initiatives and by incorporating localized needs into the development of the initiatives to facilitate better diffusion and adoption. The theoretical contribution of this manuscript is a novel perspective on sustainability in organizational networks. This perspective allows for greater explanatory power regarding how organizations can achieve sustainable outcomes that meet a broad base of stakeholder needs and better facilitate sustainability initiatives across a diverse and expansive network.
... Specifically, this research demonstrates that secondhand brokerage, i.e., where each contact is situated in an unconstrained, sparse network, sometimes seems to matter and other times not. For instance, some research shows that contacts' seniority in the organization relative to the focal individual influences whether contacts' networks will produce beneficial spillovers of novel knowledge ( Galunic et al., 2012), because senior contacts who act as brokers can share access to influence and expertise that may be unreachable without these relationships ( Liden, 1997, 2005). Conversely, other research finds no effects of brokerage in contacts' networks after taking into account people's direct network structure ( Burt, 2007Burt, , 2010). 1 Since being connected to brokers may not be universally beneficial, secondhand brokerage may offer only a partial explanation of how secondhand social capital affects performance. ...
... Accordingly, the ambiguity in the existing literature that has focused on secondhand brokerage may be attributable to the presence or absence of contacts' cooperative motivation. For instance, Galunic et al. (2012Galunic et al. ( , p. 1219) found individuals rated their colleagues' help as most valuable to them due to secondhand brokerage when the "broker" colleagues were more senior to the focal individual, since "the leader role should naturally motivate occupants to broker information and resources for subordinates." Thus, we propose that secondhand social capital, i.e., the advantages returned to individuals due to their contacts' network configurations, may be most beneficial to job performance in cases when information novelty combines with a cooperative motivation. ...
... Our study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, given the current limited understanding of second-order network effects in workplace networks ( Galunic et al., 2012), we examine the nuanced conditions under which secondhand social capital enhances performance. Particularly, whereas the existing literature indicates that secondhand brokerage may be positive or neutral, we suggest it actually may be harmful in the case of connections that span across business units, since alters who are brokers likely lack the cooperative incentives that facilitate knowledge transfer. ...
We move beyond the performance returns of individuals’ direct network connections to study the effects of “secondhand” social capital, i.e., from the networks of one’s contacts. We propose that certain colleagues may be more valuable to one’s job performance than others when their spillovers of novel information combine with spillovers of the cooperation needed to obtain that novelty. In a study of 1273 research and development employees across 16 business units, we find that the most benefit to one’s own performance comes from having ties that span business units and that also include secondhand closure (i.e., where one’s contacts are each embedded in a constrained, dense network). Bridging the organizational boundary provides the novelty; and secondhand closure provides the cooperation. Further, by examining who in the network is constraining these contacts, we are able to trace their cooperative motivation both to reputational and organizational identity concerns, which each create a spillover of cooperation toward the focal individual, who reaps the returns.
... However, most studies have only focused on how the focal firms benefit from their first-order social capital and ignored the influ-introduces the definition of firms' second-order social capital and focuses on the second-order social capital from suppliers and customers Second-order social capital social capital from customers Arfi et al., 2018 ;Brockhoff, 2003 ;Chen & Hung, 2014 ;Feng et al., 2019 ;Lynch et al., 2016 investigates the effect of second-order social capital on green innovation from the perspective of firms. Relational governance and contractual governance focus on the perspective of brokers Galunic et al., 2012 introduces governance ambidexterity, which is a comprehensive governance method focus on only one aspect: relational governance or contractual Abdi & Aulakh, 2017 ;Cao & Lumineau, 2015 ;Claro et al., 2003 ;Cao et al., 2018 ;Ferguson et al., 2005 ;Huber et al., 2013 ;Lioliou et al., 2014 ;Lumineau et al., 2012 ;Lu et al., 2015 ;Poppo & Zenger, 2002 ;Sheng et al., 2018 ;Wacker et al., 2016 ;Zhou & Xu, 2012 investigates the moderating effect of BD and CD on the relationship between second-order social capital of and green innovation ( March, 1991 ). Green exploitative innovation emphasizes the enhancement of existing green knowledge and green technology, improving existing products and services ( Guan and Liu, 2016 ;Yan and Guan, 2018 ). Green exploratory innovation is associated with searching new green knowledge, developing new products and technology ( Bernal P et al., 2019 ;Yan and Guan, 2018 ;Phelps, 2010 ). ...
... The social capital concerned in these studies is first-order social capital. However, Galunic et al., (2012) proved the presence of SSC from an actor perspective. Therefore, the study aims to research SSC from an organizational perspective according to two studying patterns of social capital and expand the concept of SSC. ...
... The degree of acquiring information from customers' social capital and suppliers' social capital is decided by network density and network centrality of customers and suppliers ( Gilsing and Nooteboom, 2005 ;Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998 ). Because a firm has multiple suppliers and customers, we use average network centrality and average network density to measure the firm's SSC ( Galunic et al., 2012 ). ...
Despite the importance of social capital on green innovation has been recognized, our knowledge of the influence of second-order social capital is still unclear. Based on social exchange theory and transaction cost economics perspective, we develop hypotheses regarding the impacts of second-order social capital on green innovation, as well as the moderating role of governance ambidexterity (i.e., balanced dimension and combined dimension). We use questionnaires to collect data from 212 Chinese firms and conduct hierarchical regression analysis to test hypothesized relationships. The results suggest that second-order social capital from both customers and suppliers have positive effects on green exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation. Balanced dimension strengthens the effect of second-order social capital from customers on green exploratory innovation while weakens the effect of second-order social capital from suppliers on green exploratory innovation. Further, combined dimension strengthens the effect of second-order social capital from suppliers on green exploitative innovation while weakens the effect of second-order social capital from customers on green exploitative innovation. This research enriches the literature on social capital and green innovation.
... In the context of organizational innovation, we argue that managers and technologists depend on not only each other's expertise but also each other's networks in achieving innovation outcomes. In so doing, we follow a recent stream of research on second-order social capital that explores how social capital advantages may spill over to third parties (Leana and Van Buren, 1999;Brass, 2009;Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo, 2012;Clement, Shipilov, and Galunic, 2018). Although one's own network resources are valuable throughout the innovation process (Perry-Smith and Mannucci, 2017), we maintain that the importance of second-order network resources is heightened in the intermediate stages of idea elaboration and idea championing during which the roles of managers and technologists are blurred. ...
... Specifically, we complement research that has emphasized the hierarchical basis of positive externalities of social capital: whereas the locus of second-order social capital in the study by Galunic and colleagues (2012) is the supervisor-subordinate relationship, it is the horizontal relationship between collaborating partners in our study. Our findings suggest that individuals benefit not only from having line managers or supervisors with connections that offer positive externalities (Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo, 2012) but also from the connections of collaborating peers with whom one engages in a division of labor. We believe this distinction is important, because the mechanisms underpinning the transfer of social capital benefits vary between vertical and horizontal relationships. ...
... Third, our study shows that the value of being connected to individuals other than one's collaborator may be based not solely on the diversity of individual connections but also on the partial overlap in group membership of those connections. The complementarity of second-order social capital is most typically defined in terms of connectedness to brokers who indirectly connect their collaborator to groups of alters otherwise beyond reach (Burt, 2007;Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo, 2012;Clement, Shipilov, and Galunic, 2018). Similarly, in a qualitative case study of biotech startups, Maurer and Ebers (2006) showed that firms benefited from individual organizational members each specializing in relations with different constituencies. ...
Organizations typically employ a division of labor between specialist creator roles and generalist business roles in a bid to orchestrate innovation. We seek to determine the extent to which individuals dividing the work across roles can also benefit from dividing their network. We argue that collaborating individuals benefit from connecting to the same groups but different individuals within those groups—an approach we label dual networking—rather than from a pure divide-and-conquer approach. To test this argument, we study a dual career-ladder setting in a large multinational in which R&D managers and technologists partner up in their quest for innovation. We find that collaborators who engage in dual networking attain an innovation performance advantage over those who connect to distinct groups. This advantage stems from the opportunity to engage in the dual interpretation of input the partners receive, as well as from dual influencing that helps them to gain momentum for their proposed innovations, and it leads to more effective elaboration and championing of their ideas. In demonstrating these effects, we advance understanding of how collaborators organize their networking activities to best achieve innovative outcomes.
... More specifically, we follow previous studies and add the strength of ties as a potential factor that may affect the gains from interacting with those who rank higher (Marin, 2012;Trimble O'Connor, 2013). To contribute to the literature further, we examine how the benefits of reaching upward also vary by whether such upward contacts involve weak ties and whether they lead people into structural holes within their personal networks (Brass, 2009;Burt, 2009;Galunic et al., 2012). The background and research insights of the current study, therefore, come from not just social resource and social exchange theories that focus on hierarchical relations, but also arguments about how tie strength and network embeddedness may facilitate favorable social outcomes. ...
... Like tie strength, then, the degree of network embeddedness serves to mediate the contact benefits of reaching upward along the social hierarchy (Lin, 2001). By definition, an alter tends to be more embedded when he or she is familiar with more fellow members in an egocentric network, while a lower level of embeddedness signals that an alter knows fewer other alters in the same network (Galunic et al., 2012). In this sense, higher levels of embeddedness indicate network closure, while lower levels of embeddedness suggest that more structural holes and accompanying brokerage opportunities may exist (Burt, 1992;Granovetter, 1973). ...
... On the other hand, however, social connections with higher-ranked alters should be more helpful when these alters are less embedded, or when they span structural holes. When such "network non-embeddedness" generates favorable opportunities, upward contacts tend to benefit by means of scarce, non-redundant novel information and resources from higher-ranked alters who are well embedded in the same egocentric network (Galunic et al., 2012). Like tie strength, therefore, the degree of network embeddedness represents a crucial structural factor in bringing about contrasting outcomes to contacts. ...
Recent studies have inspired inquiries about what circumstances allow people to gain from interactions with those who rank higher than themselves in the social hierarchy. We examine how self-reported benefits of such upward contacts vary by tie strength and network structures in everyday life. Data were drawn from contact diaries that 137 individuals recorded over seven months in 2014; these diaries captured unique features of 94,353 one-on-one contacts that 137 diary keepers made, along with the estimated tie strength and the extent of embeddedness among network members. Multilevel models with interaction terms show that diary keepers benefit from contacts with people who play higher hierarchical roles and that the benefits become more substantial when the higher-ranked others are weakly tied to the diary keepers and connected with fewer fellow network members. The paper extends contact diary studies to estimate alter-alter ties that help construct comprehensive structures in egocentric networks.
... These network measures can relate to the individual, dyadic, triadic, group, and whole network levels (Wasserman & Faust, 1994), and these characteristics of social networks have important consequences for leadership. For example, earlier research has shown that leaders' position in social networks (i.e., the individual level) is related to others' perception of leaders' helpfulness (Galunic, Ertuk, & Gargiulo, 2012), and the network structure of a work group (i.e., the group level) is related work group performance (Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001). Furthermore, a central methodological question for a researcher engaged in social network research is whether to use a whole or personal network design. ...
... There are different methods for acquiring network data: surveys (for a review, see Marsden, 2005), registers (e.g., Galunic et al., 2012), electronic sources such as email communication (Kossinets & Watts, 2006), electronic tags (Ingram & Morris, 2007), and archives (e.g., Padget & Ansell, 1993). Surveys are the most widely used method (e.g., Marsden, 2005). ...
... Social capital theory has been proved to be a suitable theoretical foundation for studies related to collective actions [1,85], career success [11,36], knowledge creation [68], knowledge sharing and transfer [15,19,49,64], resource exchange [26,30], and performance [30,53,71], where research settings are all networkbased, including both online and offline. In our research context of corporate blogging, employees form an online social network through various blog activities. ...
... Social capital theory has been proved to be a suitable theoretical foundation for studies related to collective actions [1,85], career success [11,36], knowledge creation [68], knowledge sharing and transfer [15,19,49,64], resource exchange [26,30], and performance [30,53,71], where research settings are all networkbased, including both online and offline. In our research context of corporate blogging, employees form an online social network through various blog activities. ...
Corporate blogs are expected to facilitate communication, knowledge sharing, and collaborative innovation within organizations. However, empirical evidence has yet to be found illustrating whether and how such applications have affected job performance. Drawing upon social network theory, we postulate a conceptual model suggesting that employees online social relationships accumulated through work- and nonwork-related blog participation will engender different effects on job performance. The model is empirically tested using digital trace and archival data collected from two in-practice systems of a large telecommunications company. The results reveal that, in the work-related blog network, the structural and cognitive dimensions of social relationships positively affect job performance, whereas the relational dimension shows a negative influence. Meanwhile, participation in nonwork-related blog network benefits job performance for employees with a high level of performance in the previous time period, but is detrimental for other employees. The findings uncover the influencing mechanism of corporate blogging on job performance and offer practical advice for managers to better exploit the value of intraorganizational social media.
... The assumption has been that by placing rural tourism micro firms in a network, the owner-manager (OM) will willingly engage with their community, peers and professional advisers to exchange resources including advice (Ahmad, 2005;Jaouen & Lasch, 2015;van der Zee & Vanneste, 2015) in pursuit of mutual benefits. However, researchers have rarely addressed the role of trust in tourism business relationships (Czernek & Czakon, 2016), and while trust is recognized as a crucial ingredient in tourism network success (Michael, 2007), the content of interactions and relationships that lead to trust in rural tourism networks are not fully understood (Galunic, Ertug, & Gargiulo, 2012;Pesamaa & Hair Jr., 2008;Saxena, 2005Saxena, , 2006. Furthermore, there is little evidence that mutual trusting relationships exist between network members, even over time (Reinl & Kelliher, 2014). ...
... This research contributes to a better understanding of how trust is built in a rural micro tourism network by addressing the called for study of interactions and relationships that lead to trust (Galunic et al., 2012;Pesamaa & Hair Jr., 2008;Saxena, 2005). Taking a social exchange perspective (Blau, 1968), we explored whether social exchange builds trust on both sides (Luo, 2005) based on past behavior (Lyon et al., 2015;Rousseau et al., 1998). ...
This study examines the role of trust in building rural tourism micro firm network engagement in three case environments in Ireland, Canada and the USA. Researchers have rarely addressed the role of trust in tourism business relationships beyond acknowledging that it is a critical factor in network relationships/exchanges. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by exploring the content of member interactions and relationships that lead to trust in rural micro firm tourism networks using a relationship lens underpinned by social exchange theory. Applying a longitudinal interpretivist lens in each case, findings suggest that bonding, bridging and linking interactions have profound implications for rural tourism micro firms who may not have access to a larger social system of stakeholder relationships due to their relatively isolated location. The resultant framework offers insight into the generation of trust as an evolving asset in a rural tourism micro firm network setting.
... tools and equipment) and intangible (e.g. knowledge and skills) resources that we do not have (Galunic et al., 2012). In other words, this social capital is likely to come from people who are different from us (Gomez-Limon et al., 2014;Han et al., 2014), in the sense that these people possess resources that we need but do not have. ...
... Step The social interactions that farmers in our study hoped to achieve by joining a proposed cooperative also led to the creation of bridging networks, which had two dimensions: the desire to meet other people who have needed tangible resources, such as tools and equipment, and intangible resources, such as knowledge and skills (Galunic et al., 2012). Again, we found evidence of construct and discriminant validity of the measurement scales used to capture these two dimensions of bridging networks. ...
A survey was administered to 183 Ugandan farmers in August 2014 to assess the factors that influence their willingness to become members of a proposed new agricultural cooperative. In particular, we were interested in a better understanding of how farmers viewed the social benefits associated with cooperation. These social benefits have the potential to become valuable sources of social capital. Four valid and reliable measures of social benefits were identified. Social benefits that farmers may use to get by (bonding networks) had two dimensions: emotional support and social support. Social benefits that farmers may use to get ahead (bridging networks) also had two dimensions: tangible and intangible resource sharing. The desire to gain these social benefits from cooperation (except for emotional support) emerged as strong predictors of farmers' willingness to cooperate in a proposed new agricultural cooperative. Surprisingly, the expected economic benefits of cooperation did not have a significant effect on willingness to cooperate. Implications and suggestions for future research and cooperative development and management are also discussed.
... The positioning of formal organization at the periphery of scholarly inquiry on informal social structure is evident across a wide range of studies (Baer, 2012;Battilana and Casciaro, 2012;Galunic, Ertug and Gargiulo, 2012;Mizruchi, Stearns, Fleischer, 2011;Wong and Boh, 2010;Lee, 2010;Burt, 2007;Hansen, Mors and Lovas, 2005;McFadyen and Cannella, 2004;Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, and Kraimer, 2001;Salk and Brannen, 2000). For instance, recent research by Sosa (2010) breadth in the creative generativity of developers in a software company. ...
... This fosters the venture's development and increases the returns to the investors (Stuart, Hoang, and Hybels, 1999;Sorenson and Stuart, 2001). For startups, investors' network resources are a form of second-order social capital that provides key advantages (Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo, 2012). Investors typically need to be actively involved to help early-stage ventures grow, but investors' own resources and knowledge may be insufficient for them to provide high-quality advice. ...
Open networks give actors non-redundant information that is diverse, while closed networks offer redundant information that is easier to interpret. Integrating arguments about network structure and the similarity of actors’ knowledge, we propose two types of network configurations that combine diversity and ease of interpretation. Closed-diverse networks offer diversity in actors’ knowledge domains and shared third-party ties to help in interpreting that knowledge. In open-specialized networks, structural holes offer diversity, while shared interpretive schema and overlap between received information and actors’ prior knowledge help in interpreting new information without the help of third parties. In contrast, actors in open-diverse networks suffer from information overload due to the lack of shared schema or overlapping prior knowledge for the interpretation of diverse information, and actors in closed-specialized networks suffer from overembeddedness because they cannot access diverse information. Using CrunchBase data on early-stage venture capital investments in the U.S. information technology sector, we test the effect of investors’ social capital on the success of their portfolio ventures. We find that ventures have the highest chances of success if their syndicating investors have either open-specialized or closed-diverse networks. These effects are manifested beyond the direct effects of ventures’ or investors’ quality and are robust to controlling for the possibility that certain investors could have chosen more promising ventures at the time of first funding.
... Our study expands on the idea that the effects of informal networks on outcomes are contingent on the position actors occupy in the formal or informal hierarchy of the organization (Burt 1997, Gargiulo et al. 2009, Galunic et al. 2012. Relying on similar others can help actors secure access to information controlled by other organizational members, but it also places constraints on the range and diversity of such information. ...
We study the relationship between choice homophily in instrumental relationships and individual performance in knowledge-intensive organizations. Although homophily should make it easier for people to get access to some colleagues, it may also lead to neglecting relationships with other colleagues, reducing the diversity of information people access through their network. Using data on instrumental ties between bonus-eligible employees in the Equity Sales and Trading division of a global investment bank, we show that the relationship between an employee’s choice of similar colleagues and her performance is contingent on the position this employee occupies in the formal and informal hierarchy of the bank. More specifically, homophily is negatively associated with performance for bankers in the higher levels of the formal and informal hierarchy, whereas the association is either positive or nonexistent for lower hierarchical levels.
... This is achieved by using the improved Gram-Schmidt procedure explained by Golub and Van Loan (1996), who have developed an algebraic formulation for separating out the variation in the quadratic term that is not captured by the variation in the linear term. Their improved procedure has been implemented as a STATA software module (called "Orthog"), which authors have adopted in recent years to report their results (Galunic et al., 2012;Greve and Seidel, 2015). I use the same method here in Model 3. ...
... Prior research on network embeddedness and brokerage has emphasized the role of individuals in social networks (Burt, 2005;Fleming, Mingo, & Chen, 2007) and how they might 4 exploit their advantageous position (Galunic, Ertug, & Gargiulo, 2012). Also, studies have shown that the position of team members influences performance outcomes (Cattani & Ferriani, 2008;Guimerá et al., 2005). ...
... External social capital is created by the interactions of the stakeholders, the CEO, and the top management team, with external entities that influence the organization, such as competitors, investors, clients, suppliers, and other third parties (Kapucu and Demiroz, 2015). The benefits of external social capital are financial investment in the organization (Florin et al., 2003;Tung, 2012), a positive reputation and improved organizational performance (Leana and Van Buren, 1999), and competitive advantage (Galunic et al., 2012). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing research field on the subject of intra-organizational social capital (IOSC) and its effects on employee job performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of 209 employees in community centers. The variables that were specified are IOSC, vigor, self-efficacy, and a supervisor report regarding employee performance.
Findings
The results indicate a mediation-moderation model in which the connection between IOSC and employee performance is mediated by vigor and moderated by self-efficacy.
Research limitations/implications
Although the sample includes employees from a single organization, collecting data from different sources within the organization permitted to overcome this limitation. Mainly, the current findings emphasize the importance of the interaction between environment and personality.
Practical implications
Creation and preservation of IOSC in organizations increases the employee vigor and can serve to upgrade performance.
Originality/value
The important role of IOSC in organizations has been confirmed. Furthermore, the combination between supportive environment and personality traits can foster employee performance.
... Gender also affects the value of knowledge capital in predicting career success, according to Kirchmeyer (1998). Finally, Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo (2012) note that the effect of second-order social capital-being connected to a broker-generates positive externalities contingent on the relative seniority of the actors involved. ...
... Scholars of two-step leverage have described how the weak party in a dependence relationship (party A) may attenuate the negative effects of this dependence by enlisting the help of a third party (party C) who has power over the strong party (party B). Two-step leverage examples include the subordinate investment banker A who enlists the help of his more senior boss C to persuade another investment banker B to provide knowledge and information to the subordinate investment banker (Galunic, Ertug, and Gargiulo, 2012) or the female professional A who seeks a mentor-proté gé relation with a powerful senior ally C to enhance her legitimacy with other players B above her level (Ibarra, 1997;Burt, 1998). These prior studies of two-step leverage have examined situations in which the initiating party A engages a third party C who is senior to targeted party B. ...
This two-year ethnographic study of the primary care departments in two U.S. hospitals examines how managers can bring about micro-level institutional change in professional practice even when such change challenges professionals’ specialized expertise, autonomy, individual responsibility, and engagement in complex work, which previous research has shown to create difficulties. In this study, managers in both hospitals attempted to implement the same patient-centered medical home (PCMH) reforms among doctors, had the same external pressures for micro-level institutional change, worked under the same organizational and reimbursement structure, and had the same contextual facilitators of micro-level institutional change present within their organizations. But managers in one hospital successfully accomplished change in professional practice while those in the other did not. I demonstrate that managers can accomplish micro-level institutional change in professional organizations using “subordinate activation tactics”—first empowering and motivating subordinate semi-professionals to activate their favorable structural position vis-à-vis the targeted professionals on behalf of managers and next giving semi-professionals positional tools to use in their daily work to minimize the targeted professionals’ concerns about the threats associated with change.
... Through interlocks and experiences with other boards, directors provide a conduit for social influences that create an informational context for board decisions [57,62]. Based on RDT, we maintain that a board's interlocks provide access to tacit and hard-to-imitate resources [63], expertise, advice, and counsel to firms [42,64]. SMEs access to these resources contributes to internal and external social capital [18,[65][66][67]. ...
This study proposes an original structural model that analyzes the relationship between sustainable firm performance, and a board of directors’ external and internal social capital. Data collected in 232 non-listed and family-run small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain suggest that the effects of boards’ internal and external social capital on sustainable firm performance were partially transmitted through board effectiveness. However, external social capital influences board effectiveness and sustainable firm performance more than internal social capital. Moreover, interlocks only reinforce the relationship between a board’s external social capital and its effectiveness. Our research offers the following main contributions: (1) A proposed structural theoretical model, (2) a focus on both internal and external social capital, unlike previous literature that emphasized only one perspective, and (3) empirical evidence that supports literature on the interlocking interaction between a boards’ internal and external social capital.
... According to social capital theory, the valuable resources of the focal actor, or "ego," are embedded in the ego's social networks (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). These embedded resources include information (Schmidt & Keil, 2013), emotional support (Mehra, Dixon, Brass, & Robertson, 2006), reputation (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006;Galunic, Ertug, & Gargiulo, 2012), and potential future favors (Kwon & Adler, 2014), all of which lead to competitive advantages (Brass, Galaskiewicz, Greve, & Tsai, 2004). Social capital theory asserts that the ego's ability to access the resources embedded in its social network is determined by the structure of that network, such as the strength of ties, and the ego's network position (Schmidt & Keil, 2013). ...
Online business-to-business (B2B) help businesspeople to obtain heterogeneous work-related knowledge, develop social ties, and bring in business beyond the constraints of offline local contexts. However, knowledge of whether and how social interactions in B2B communities affect the business performance of community members is limited. The authors used social capital theory and social exchange theory to fill this gap in the research. Based on data from an online B2B community, the authors first examined how the characteristics of members’ social interactions influenced their online sales performance. The results showed that social interaction positively affected sales performance and that this relationship was mediated by the network centrality of the community members. The authors also found that the third-party certification level of the e-vendors represented by the community members positively moderated the influence of the members’ social interactions on their network centrality.
... This includes how individuals draw on social capital accrued in one recognized collective social space, such as the field of corporate business, to gain legitimacy in another, such as the field of politics. Most research focuses on how social capital confers advantage on individuals within a network (Galunic et al., 2012) and on the organizations for whom they work (Inkpen and Tsang, 2005). The literature largely ignores how a lack of capital, relevant to an occupational or organizational field, can disadvantage those outside a particular field of power (Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012). ...
The rise of populist leaders in the political sphere mounts a challenge to normative understandings of leadership. To better understand this challenge, we examine how political leaders mobilize different forms of social capital in pursuit of leadership legitimacy, providing insight into the dynamics of how leadership norms are maintained. While research has tended to focus on specific forms of capital, this article considers capital as multidimensional and strategically mobilized. The article applies a multimodal analysis to examine interactions between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during peak ‘Twitter Moments’ of the three 2016 presidential election debates. We theorize the paradoxical dynamics of the mobilization of multiple capitals and their intersection as a simultaneously disruptive and reproductive resource. While the mobilization of multiple capitals operates to disrupt traditional notions of who can claim legitimacy as a leader in the political field, their disruptive mobilization serves to reproduce implicit heteronormative leadership values. Hence, our theorization illuminates the resilience of implicit leadership values, and their intimate connection with heteronormativity, calling for the need to interrogate leadership legitimacy claims that promise ‘new’ approaches.
... The System Brokers are cross-border actors that can have great influence (positive or negative) on the strengthening of relationships and capacity development (Galunic et al. 2012). They can be individuals, groups or entities that concentrate power (based on legitimacy, presence, knowledge, partnerships, etc.) and can shape (or disband) a significant number of relationships among themselves. ...
The rise of governance in border studies has become an opportunity to increase efficiency, generate better institutional arrangements and reduce the gap between theory and practice. However, the multiplicity of theories where cross-border governance can be placed, the lack of consensus on concepts and the multiple disciplines that can be used for studying it have increased the need of more comprehensive theoretical frameworks. From an evolutionary-constructivist approach, this paper explores the principles and processes behind cross-border governance evolution through a Grounded Theory methodology based on 49 interviews. The proposed theory identifies four principles – shared experience, Nation State construction, scale difference and notions of power–, defining governance as a mean and result of the territorialization of cross-border actors’ knowledge construction and power concentration at different levels, sectors and scales, based on five on-going processes – knowledge creation, articulation of relationships, decision-making, implementation & management and appraisal of results –.
... However, to the second point, other studies have found performance benefits of secondhand brokerage if the focal actor's alters are brokers who can provide a needed benefit of novelty and cooperation Galunic, Ertug & Gargiulo, 2012). These cases suggest that the benefits of secondhand brokerage are contingent, i.e., it is helpful only under circumstances when it combines information diversity with trust and cooperation. ...
Network brokerage research has grown rapidly in recent decades, spanning the boundaries of multiple social science disciplines as well as diverse research areas within management. Accordingly, we take stock of the literature on network brokerage and provide guidance on ways to move this burgeoning research area forward. We provide a comprehensive review of this literature, including crucial dimensions of the concept itself, in terms of brokerage structure and behavior, a set of key categories of factors surrounding the brokerage concept (antecedents, outcomes, and moderators), and an overview of brokerage dynamics over time. We use these dimensions and categories to depict network brokerage's theoretical and empirical underpinnings, as well as evaluate prior research efforts. In so doing, we offer a means to summarize and synthesize this large, interdisciplinary literature, identify important research gaps, and offer promising directions for future research.
... Notwithstanding, while the demise of shareholder capitalism, as we know it today, still comes across as a distant mirage, a critical issue that has received limited attention is how the shareholder model of the firm can reinvent itself and internalise its negative externalities and enhance its positive externalities. This is important as evidence (Galunic, Ertug and Gargiulo, 2012) suggests that firms benefit from embracing this practice. In recent years, there have been initiatives to implement this perspective, for example, impact investing (Agrawal and Hockerts, 2019;Mersland et al., 2020) and social impact reporting (Toppinen and Korhonen-Kurki, 2013) by firms. ...
Purpose: This paper examines two important issues in CSR scholarship. First, the study problematizes corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a form of self-regulation. Second, the research explores how CSR strategies can enable firms to recognise and internalise their externalities while preserving shareholder value.
Design/Methodology: This study employs a tinged shareholder model to understand the interactions between an organisation’s CSR approach and the effect of relevant externalities on its CSR outcomes. In doing this, we adopt the case study qualitative methodology, relying on data from one Fidelity Bank, Nigeria.
Findings: By articulating a tripodal thematic model – governance of externalities in the economy, governance of externalities in the social system and governance of externalities in the environment, this paper demonstrates how an effective combination of these themes triggers the emergence of a robust CSR culture in an organisation.
Research Implications: This research advances our understanding of the implication of internalising externalities in the CSR literature in a relatively under-researched context – Nigeria.
Originality: Our data allows us to present a governance model that will enable managers to focus on their overarching objective of shareholder value without the challenges of pursuing multiple and sometimes conflicting goals that typically create negative impacts to non-shareholding stakeholders.
... Sosyal sermaye teorisinin, kolektif eylemler, kariyer başarısı, bilgi oluşturma, bilgi paylaşımı ve aktarımı, kaynak değişimi ve performans ile ilgili çalışmalar için uygun bir teorik temel olduğu çeşitli araştırmalar ile kanıtlanmıştır (Chiu, Hsu ve Wang, 2006;Chai, Das ve Rao, 2011;Galunic, Ertug ve Gargiulo, 2012;Wagner, Beimborn ve Weitzel, 2014;Lu vd., 2015). Örneğin; Lu vd. ...
Son on yılda iletişim ve bilgi yayınlamak için ek bir kanal olarak kurulan sosyal
medya platformları artık daha çok dikkat çekmeye başlamıştır. Bu gelişme
internet kullanıcılarını bilgi tüketicilerinden aktif bilgi üreticisi rolüne
dönüştürmüştür. Bu anlamda, bireyler sadece birbirleriyle nasıl iletişim kuracaklarını,
ne tür fikir ve ilgi alanlarına sahip olduklarını açıklamakla kalmaz
aynı zamanda tüketicileri ürünler, gündem ya da şirketler hakkında etkileyerek
piyasa trendlerini de ortaya çıkarmaktadırlar (Zeng ve Gerritsen, 2014;
Benthaus, Risius ve Beck, 2016). Yaklaşık 7.39 milyar dünya nüfusunun 3.4
milyarı internet erişimine sahiptir ve bu kullanıcı sayısının 2.3 milyarı ise düzenli
olarak sosyal medya kullanmaktadır (Alarcón, Sepúlveda, Valenzuela-
Fernández ve Gil-Lafuente, 2018). Ayrıca, Facebook 1.3 milyardan fazla kullanıcıya
sahipken, Twitter ve LinkedIn kullanıcıları 100 milyona ulaşmaktadır.
Her dakika, YouTube video paylaşım platformuna 10 saatlik içerik yüklenmektedir
(Kaplan ve Haenlein, 2010; Kane, 2015).
...
This research contributes to the developing literature on CSR, second-order social capital, and sustainable innovation ambidexterity by (1) offering a complete theoretical framework grounded on related theories by clarifying the associations between the four components of CSR proposed by Carroll, because this model suggests a company to be a responsible member of the society by following the required laws while generating profits and conducting philanthropic initiatives, SSC, and sustainable innovation ambidexterity, and (2) testing this framework in a new setting and with a new target population. This study focuses on the top-level management of different manufacturing companies located in Pakistan. A total of 34 manufacturing industries were selected using a cluster sampling technique based on their proximity in the selected cluster. Geographical location and industry type were selected as the criteria to group the industries in clusters. The data collected from 220 top and middle-level managers were analyzed using a partial least square method while the moderation analysis was conducted by using variance analysis. According to the findings of this study, economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropical responsibilities of CSR were all found to have a positive influence on second-order social capital. The economic, ethical, and legal responsibility of CSR did not influence sustainable innovation ambidexterity, whereas the philanthropical responsibility of CSR was found to have a positive influence on sustainable innovation ambidexterity. The findings of this research study will allow the managers to identify the right mix of CSR initiatives required to manage SSC and sustainable innovation exploitation and exploration techniques.
Do outside directors influence the performance of cross-border acquisitions? We use resource dependence arguments and a sample of 431 relatively large cross-border acquisitions undertaken by U.S. firms to explore how the human and social capital of outside directors on the acquiring firm's board influence shareholder value creation. Findings indicate that human and social capital linked to board tenure, external board appointments, and region-specific cross-border acquisition experience, but not target firm industry experience, have an impact on acquiring firms' shareholder value. Our study's theoretical and empirical contributions, along with managerial implications, are discussed.
Network research shows that strong relationships, highly embedded relationships and brokered relationships may have different outcomes. While pros and cons are associated with each of these network structures, how this ambiguity translates into individuals’ actions of network change is unclear. Specifically, if network positions can be both beneficial and detrimental, how do individuals decide whether to maintain those positions? We develop a tie‐specific model of network modification that captures the positioning in the work‐related network and the level of knowledge acquired from that network for each individual in a knowledge‐intensive organization. Our analysis of tie‐level data identifies the level of acquired knowledge as an important disambiguating mechanism that determines how individuals manage their strong ties, embedded ties and brokered ties over time.
As a subset of the international business literature, cross-border equity based partnerships have drawn significant academic attention. In the context of inter-firm partnerships, the power dynamics between parties and the implications that power has on the relational dynamics between firms is an important consideration. Research that connects power with network theory has recently emerged, suggesting that the network, as a source of power, plays a significant role in inter-firm dynamics. Yet, while there has been a substantial body of work either articulating the antecedents and consequences of power, little research has paid attention to the role that power plays in international JV formations; this presents a significant gap in the international business literature. Consequently, this study investigates the role that global network structure plays in the formation of new equity based international partnerships. Secondly, it contributes to the international JV literature by developing and testing a theoretical framework that examines inter-firm power dynamics as derived from the network position of each firm in the global network. Global network prominence, brokerage and weakness are key factors utilized in the analysis. The hypotheses are tested using a global manufacturing joint venture longitudinal dataset that contains 985,689 observations from 1985 to 2003. The results of the event history analysis indicate that for the manufacturer global network prominence, brokerage and weakness play an important role in new joint venture formations. On the other hand, only global network prominence is a significant factor for the potential partner.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the forces driving organizational innovation, particularly CEO transformational leadership as it affects external and internal social capital in top management teams.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey questionnaires were administered to 90 Chinese top management teams. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Both internal and external social capital mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation.
Practical implications
Organizations should strengthen internal and external capital of top management teams to reap maximal innovation outcomes from transformational leadership.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the transformational leadership, social capital, and innovation literature first by showing how leadership influences innovation through largely neglected mechanisms – internal and external social capital. Second, a social capital focus challenges the tacit assumption that transformational leadership has only internal influences by showing that it potentially spills over to the external domain.
Software development is a problem-solving activity, where ideas are combined in complex ways to create a software product that embodies new knowledge. In this endeavor, software developers constantly look for actionable knowledge to help solve the problem at hand. While knowledge management efforts in the software development domain traditionally involved technical initiatives such as knowledge repositories, experience factories, and lessons-to-learn databases, there is a growing appreciation in the software community of the role of developers' personal knowledge networks in software development. However, research is scarce on the nature of these networks, the knowledge resources accessed from these networks, and the differences, if any, between developers of different experience levels. This research seeks to fill this void. Based on a case study in a software development organization, this research explores the nature of knowledge networks of developers from a social capital perspective. Specifically, it examines the structural and relational dimensions of developers' knowledge networks, identifies the specific actionable knowledge resources accessed from these networks, and explores how entry-level and more experienced developers differ along these dimensions. The findings from the qualitative analysis, backed by limited quantitative analysis of the case study data underpin the discussion, implications for practice and future research directions.
We theorize that organizations with higher brokerage positions (which we call brokers) benefit from access to capital and distribution that, paradoxically, causes them to implement poorer projects but to survive longer. Whereas prior research proposes that such organizations implement alliance projects because of their superior quality, we argue that they can do so despite project quality, because they have better access to capital and distribution. This access subjects their ventures to fewer implementation hurdles. As a result, there emerge three paradoxes and associated hypotheses: (a) brokers are able to implement more alliance projects, but their projects will perform on average more poorly; (b) brokers will tend to ally with other brokers but will do better when they ally with those having lower brokerage positions; and (c) despite the poorer performance of alliance projects, brokers will experience fewer risks and be less likely to exit the business. Paradoxically, brokerage makes organizations perform worse in each alliance but benefit from longer-term sustainability. In a study of 2,694 movie production companies in the Hollywood film industry from 1994 to 2009, we find considerable support for our hypotheses and develop a novel perspective on brokerage.
In the supply chain management (SCM) domain, research has been advanced to understand the role of network structure in buyer-supplier relations. Yet, while there has been a substantial body of work investigating supply chain networks, little research has paid attention to how the network structure affects the power balance between manufacturers and suppliers. This study investigates, from a power perspective, the role that network connectedness plays in new equity based joint venture formations. As such, we further the understanding of supply chain networks by examining network structure as a mechanism from which firms derive power. We articulate several hypotheses rooted in both network and power theories by specifically examining, from a power perspective, factors such as eigenvector centrality, closeness centrality, and weak components centrality. Further, we differentiate between horizontal and vertical joint venture configurations and elucidate the moderating effect it has in engendering new manufacturing joint venture formations. Empirical results show that structural network based power is a significant explanatory mechanism in new joint venture formation, and specifically, that power is, and should be a primary consideration in supply chain partnership decisions.
This chapter explains the importance of social capital for society, management and entrepreneurship. It emphasises the scholarly importance of social capital in the fields of social science, economics, health, arts and humanities. There is a large and robust body of research that addresses three main views pertaining to social capital: communitarian; networks; and institutions. The communitarian view reflects social cohesion amongst and between members in a group and moral behaviours. The networks view refers to different social ties available to individuals and associated norms that promote access to resources. The institutional view represents social capital as an outcome of institutions, democracy and rule of law. Furthermore, the chapter proceeds to explain the relevance of three social capital dimensions in management and entrepreneurial social capital research-namely, structural (bonding, bridging), relational (trust, reciprocity and norms) and cognitive (communication). It also illuminates the complex linkage between bonding and bridging network structures and dynamics of relational and cognitive features.
Purpose
Exploring the mechanisms through which social capital (SC) operates in organizations is highly important for both researchers and practitioners. As a theoretical concept, the role and functions of SC in organizations are framed in various ways but not clearly enough. Practitioners would like to understand how relationship intensifies performance; the purpose of this paper is to better understand the mechanisms through which SC influences performance in organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework for different levels of SC in organizations has been developed and presented, as well as propositions regarding the suggested impact of each level on performance have been stated.
Findings
Drawing on a variety of literatures, it is argued that there are three levels of SC in organizations – personal, intra-organizational, and external; each level has unique features and benefits, and also, each level holds different risks. It is suggested that every SC level strengthens other components of performance.
Originality/value
Organizations strive to improve their performance and to create a better working atmosphere for their employees; nurturing SC properly helps in achieving these goals. This paper promotes understanding of the benefits and risks of SC, how to avoid these risks, and how to improve personal and collective performance and organizational outcomes.
Although much is known about how brokerage positions in social networks help individuals improve their own performance, we know little about the impact of brokers on those around them. Our study investigates brokerage as a public good. We focus on the positive and negative externalities of specific kinds of brokers: “hubs,” who act as the main interfaces between members of their own network community (“network neighbors”) and members of other communities. Because hubs access diverse knowledge and perspectives, they create positive externalities by providing novel ideas to their network neighbors. But hubs also generate negative externalities: extensive cross-community activity puts heavy demands on their attention and time, so that hubs may not provide strong commitment to their neighbors’ projects. Because of this, network neighbors experience different externalities from hubs depending on their own formal role in projects. We use insights from our fieldwork in the French television game show industry to illustrate the mechanisms at play, and we test our theory with archival data on this industry from 1995 to 2012. Results suggest that the positive externalities of hubs help their neighbors contribute to the success of projects when these neighbors hold creativity-focused roles; yet the negative externalities of hubs hinder their neighbors’ contributions when they hold efficiency-focused roles.
Psychological capital (PsyCap), which is considered a higher-order construct, is composed of hope, efficacy, optimism, and resilience. The importance of PsyCap stems from the fact that it has the propensity to motivate individuals in their accomplishment of organizational tasks and goals. The concept is related to many behavioral concepts including: subjective well-being, social capital, employee engagement, and emotional intelligence. The majority of the research literature on PsyCap has originated from the West, and limited literature exists about its antecedents and consequences among the Saudi population. Studies undertaken in Saudi Arabia must take into account unique cultural aspects. The present work attempts to identify the contribution that could emerge from the relationship of PsyCap, with constructs like subjective well-being, social capital, and employee engagement, considered through the prism of culture. It also recognizes the influence of, and upon, the external environment. Going beyond the replication of earlier studies, the present work considers the constructs to have a yin-yang relationship. The study presented a model of comprehensive framework emerging from the relevant literature to bring out the complex connections between PsyCap and other constructs. It also emphasized the importance of culture on the identified constructs, and its implication on contribution and performance. The proposed framework needs to be further tested by academics, researchers, and practitioners to confirm its practical implications in industry.
Individual responsibility is a critical feature of any successful market economy. Moreover, moral commitment is a crucial element of managerial authority in a capitalistic environment. For ethics, trust and integrity constitute social capital whereby an economy can thrive. For example, deserved earned trust lowers an interest rate. An atmosphere of integrity can minimize parties' confidence-malinvestment. In addition, integrity as social capital engenders a virtuous-circle feedback-mechanism respecting the character of a citizenry overall. This examination of the law and economics backdrop to these realities is informed by an array of insights from several Nobel laureates in economics and of a Father of Management Science, Peter F. Drucker.
Brokerage and brokering are pervasive and consequential organizational phenomena. Prevailing models underscore social structure and focus on the consequences that come from brokerage —occupying a bridging position between disconnected others in a network. In contrast, emerging models underscore social interactions and focus on brokering — the behavioral processes through which organizational actors shape others’ relationships. Our review led us to develop a novel framework as a means to integrate and organize a wide range of theoretical insights and empirical findings on brokerage and brokering. The COR (Changing Others’ Relationships) framework captures the following ideas that emerged from our review: (a) different triadic configurations enable different forms of brokering, which in turn, produce distinct effects on others’ relationships; (b) brokering is a multifaceted social influence process that can take the form of intermediation (connecting disconnected others) or modification (changing others’ preexisting relationships); (c) comparing social relations pre-brokering versus post-brokering reveals a broker’s impact; (d) brokering can influence others’ relationships positively or negatively; and (e) information and incentives are two principal means through which individuals change others’ relationships. Overall, the current review integrates multiple streams of research relevant to brokerage and brokering — including those on structural holes, organizational innovation, boundary spanning, social and political skill, workplace gossip, third-party conflict managers, and labor relations — and links each of the emergent themes identified in the current review to promising directions for future research on brokerage and brokering.
This study suggests that it is critical for executives to develop transnational social capital (TSC), or professional relationships and ties that span national borders. We first provide a conceptual framework and careful operationalization of TSC that differentiates between bonding and bridging forms of social capital. We then examine the effect of three key determinants—opportunity, investment and ability—on the TSC of executives. Using detailed survey data on 227 executives, our analysis suggests that international experience, investment in communicating with cross-border ties and cosmopolitan ability have direct effects on overall TSC. We further demonstrate that international experience and cosmopolitan ability affect both bridging and bonding, but that investment in cross-border communication only affects bridging social capital. The study proposes that social capital is becoming more and more transnational as connections, interactions and transactions increasingly span national borders, which has implications for international business and human resource management. Given our findings, it would make sense for global organizations to pay more attention to these, if they would like their members to develop this resource. We point out benefits to organizations and individuals.
In this paper, we address the relation between Leader‐Member Exchange (LMX; the quality of the relationship between leader and subordinate), employee creativity (the generation of novel and useful ideas), and employee innovation (the promotion and implementation of these ideas). In the current set of studies, we test the competing hypotheses that LMX will either have a direct effect on employee innovation, or an indirect effect through employee creativity. In a field study of leader–subordinate dyads (N = 118), we found that LMX had no direct effect on employee innovation, and that employee creativity fully mediated the relationship between LMX and innovation. In a follow‐up two‐wave field study of employees (N = 398), we found that the LMX dimension professional respect predicted innovation through creativity, while the other dimensions did not. The results of this work indicate that research on LMX and innovation requires a multidimensional perspective, and that it may be valuable to differentiate between creativity and innovation.
The study purpose was to synthesize the structure and content of the internal social capital (ISC) literature within business management refereed journals from 1989 to 2017 and to propose future directions for study. Performance indicators, bibliographic coupling, and content analyzes were used to conduct the literature review. 128 documents were organized in eight conceptual theme clusters addressing ISC's definition, its structure and behavioral dynamics, its function of bonding, capacity-building, and culture setting. It also addressed performance enhancements and constraints that emanate out of ISC processes. In addition, the review addressed the unique contextual ISC relevance of the family influence in family businesses. Gaps in the literature are discussed and a series of future research directions are posed for each of the eight thematic clusters that evolved from the literature review analyzes. __________________________________
The objective of this research is to present a model that describes the general effect of social capital and absorptive capacity on knowledge management and its implications on company performance.The model proposed in this research is tested by structural equation model. This research processed data from 258 respondents of employees of finance companies in Indonesia that meet certain requirements of 27 samples of the company.This research found that social capital has a positive and significant effect on absorptive capacity and knowledge management. Absorptive capacity has a positive and significant impact on knowledge management and company performance. Knowledge management also has a positive and significant effect on company performance. Social capital and absorptive capacity together have a positive and significant influence on knowledge management. Furthermore social capital, absorptive capacity and knowledge management together have a positive and significant impact on company performance. Absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between social capital and knowledge management. Knowledge management fully mediates the relationship between social capital and absorptive capacity on company performance. Social capital indirectly affects the company performance through knowledge management or absorptive capacity.This research model only limits the factors that affect company performance to three main variables namely social capital, absorptive capacity and knowledge management. Future research is suggested to try with additional other variables such as monetary incentives and/or corporate culture.The practical implication of this research is to improve knowledge management, it is necessary to improve social capital and absorptive capacity together. Furthermore company performance can be improved if social capital, absorptive capacity and knowledge management also improved simultaneously.The model proposed in this research improves the understanding of academics and practitioners about the construct of knowledge management. The mediation function of knowledge management is something new from this research compared to previous researches. This research also provides an additional contradictory list of previous researches on the relationship between social capital and company performance.
A key feature of biotechnology firms' business models is the tendency to branch into related therapeutic markets within the same industry in developing new products. Recent analyses revealed that this business model has not paid off for the vast majority of firms in this industry. Building on theories of learning and attention, and supported by empirical analyses of firms' ability to develop new products over two decades, this article finds evidence that initiating new product development projects targeting new-to-the-firm therapeutic markets within the same industry disrupts firms' product development projects in their existing markets. This effect is primarily driven by firms that ventured into therapeutic markets that were not highly related to their area of expertise, and firms that did not recruit top executives with experience in newly entered markets. These results help to explain the poor performance of biotechnology firms in getting new products to market. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved.
Deep connections must be forged between the three fundamental processes of strategy, capability development, and talent development. There is no “one size fits all” strategy for human talent development but some include hiring stars and building around them, developing strategic jobs that move your organization forward, avoiding “assholes”, recognizing our own biases, paying attention to our own networks of senior managers, and looking to the current and future generations of workers to recognize characteristics that inspire talent.
While most studies of firm innovation with a social network perspective have focused on the focal firm's network structure, we explore the value of second-order social capital by examining partners' network structure to better understand firm innovation. Specifically, we examine how centrality diversity of the focal firm's network partners affects its innovation performance. A longitudinal study of Chinese publicly listed manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2016 indicates that partners' centrality diversity in a firm's board interlock network is positively related to that firm's innovation performance. We also find that the focal firm's knowledge breadth weakens the effect of partners' centrality diversity on innovation performance for the focal firm, while the proportion of non-independent ties between the focal firm and its network partners strengthens the effect.
Using U.S. venture capital investment data from 1985 to 2008 and qualitative interviews, we examine how group dynamics influence the growth of interorganizational collaborations through the addition of new members. We argue that group dynamics that develop among members in a collaboration, as well as between each member and prospective newcomers, influence which new members join existing collaborations. For prospective newcomers, we distinguish between their depth of embeddedness, the strength of a prospective newcomer’s past relationships with any incumbent member of the collaboration, and breadth of embeddedness, the proportion of incumbent members with which the newcomer has had prior ties. For incumbent members, we examine network faultlines, or subgroups in their collaboration, that may lead to power struggles. We find that when strong network faultlines exist, the depth and breadth of a prospective newcomer’s embeddedness will have different influences on its likelihood of joining the collaboration: A newcomer with greater depth of embeddedness with the collaboration may be perceived to influence power dynamics in the group, leading to lower likelihood of joining, whereas a newcomer with greater breadth may not suffer the same liability. We also find that newcomers with greater depth benefit from the status of their strongest tie in the collaboration, and newcomers with greater breadth are more desirable partners when they are more experienced. Overall, our results highlight the mechanisms of anticipated power distribution and mediation as overlooked concerns in member additions to collaborations, especially when there is conflict.
Purpose
Since the dawn of leadership research, generations of scholars have looked at the topic through the lenses of leader personalities and traits, their behaviour, the situation they are in and their relations with co-workers. Same as with ideology waves in managerial discourse and though sailing under different flags, many of the above “classical” foci reverberate in “modern” organisational literature. The authors argue, however, that relatively little effort has been put into what we label as “organisational embeddedness of leadership” (OEL). The authors here focus on the role of institutionalising leadership within the setting of “poly-contextual” organisational frameworks.
Design/methodology/approach
Addressing the ambiguity of previous OEL research with fresh primary data from Germany, the authors present a clear-cut five-dimensional, 15-items construct. The authors’ empirical validation rests on (1) two independent qualitative studies and (2) three independent quantitative investigations computing exploratory ( N = 61) and confirmatory ( N = 172) factor analysis as well as a regression analysis ( N = 131).
Findings
Structural equation modelling results indicate a single-factor model with five sub-dimensions consisting of leadership training and career development, leadership alignment, evaluation and feedback, implementation of employee interviews and supporting resources for leadership.
Originality/value
This work contributes to a broader understanding of “leadership emergence and development” (LED) from an organisational perspective. The limitations of the present article call for a lively debate on OEL and may illuminate some promising future research avenues.
Purpose
This research aims to explore the role of social capital and specifically networks in role, and career development for women within two very distinct gender-segregated contexts of the labour market, namely, investment management and human resource management (HRM).
Design/methodology/approach
This research is qualitative in nature, underpinned by an interpretivist philosophical stance. Thematic analysis is used to analyse the findings from 32 in-depth interviews with HR and investment management managers.
Findings
The findings advance our understanding of social capital and its development as a social process, which differs according to labour market contexts. The results indicate divergence among participants regarding how they access networks as well as the perceived role and benefits of networking and social capital accumulation in their career and personal development.
Practical implications
For human resource development (HRD) practitioners, there are implications in relation to the need to tailor development and support structures cognisant of the occupational context. Specifically, the findings of this study indicate the acute need to support network access for those “outsider” women in male-dominated spaces. A need to enhance awareness of the benefits of networks to both organisations and employees across the labour market is warranted. For organisations, networks underlie social capital accumulation, which in turn increases efficiency and generates business solutions. For the employee, networks are an important self-development and career advancement tool. Such connections need to be supported and developed. Within patriarchal spaces particularly, HRD professionals need to provide support to women in extending their networks both within and outside the organisation.
Originality/value
This research makes an essential contribution to the literature by examining the influence of context in the development of social capital within two polarized labour market locations. The findings highlight the difficulties women face when developing social capital in investment management in contrast to the relative ease, which HRM professionals experience. Such findings also bring to light the essential role of HRD professionals as advocates for change in such contexts.
This paper applies a social network perspective to the study of organizational psychology. Complementing the traditional focus on individual attributes, the social network perspective focuses on the relationships among actors. The perspective assumes that actors (whether they be individuals, groups, or organizations) are embedded within a network of interrelationships with other actors. It is this intersection of relationships that defines an actor's position in the social structure, and provides opportunities and constraints on behavior. A brief introduction to social networks is provided, typical measures are described, and research focusing on the antecedents and consequences of networks is reviewed. The social network framework is applied to organizational behavior topics such as recruitment and selection, performance, power, justice, and leadership, with a focus on research results obtained and directions for future research.
We examine how organizations that mediate "life-of-project" employment segment the labor market in a culture industry. Using longitudinal data on writers for television and feature films, we examine trends in the extent to which type of agency representation affects writers' employment and earnings. Elite or "core" agencies are those that transcend their role as market brokers between the suppliers and purchasers of writing services by participating actively in the production process. Writers who are represented by such agencies are substantially more likely to find employment, and they earn considerably more than equally accomplished writers with noncore agency representation. We discuss the implications of these findings for contingent employment of professionalized employees in other highly institutionalized industrial sectors.
Theory supporting the key premise of the leader-member exchange (LMX) approach to leadership, that leaders differentiate between subordinates, has not been fully developed. We address this deficiency by (a) returning LMX research to its historical roots in exchange processes by introducing a framework for understanding relationship quality that is based on reciprocity, and (b) extending the traditional domain of LMX research beyond the formal leader-subordinate relationship in order to offer a more complete explanation of the differentiation process. We employ insights derived from social network analysis to describe how social structure facilitates the exchange processes through which leaders assist in incorporating some members into the inner life of an organization but exclude others.
We contend that two important, nonrelational, features of formal interorganizational networks-geographic propinquity and organizational form-fundamentally alter the flow of information through a network. Within regional economies, contractual linkages among physically proximate organizations represent relatively transparent channels for information transfer because they are embedded in an ecology rich in informal and labor market transmission mechanisms. Similarly, we argue that the spillovers that result from proprietary alliances are a function of the institutional commitments and practices of members of the network. When the dominant nodes in an innovation network are committed to open regimes of information disclosure, the entire structure is characterized by less tightly monitored ties. The relative accessibility of knowledge transferred through contractual linkages to organizations determines whether innovation benefits accrue broadly to membership in a coherent network component or narrowly to centrality. We draw on novel network visualization methods and conditional fixed effects negative binomial regressions to test these arguments for human therapeutic biotechnology firms located in the Boston metropolitan area.
We introduce the construct of organizational social capital and develop a model of its components and consequences. Organizational social capital is defined as a resource reflecting the character of social relations within the organization. It is realized through members' levels of collective goal orientation and shared trust, which create value by facilitating successful collective action. We discuss employment practices as primary mechanisms by which social capital is fostered or discouraged within organizations.
This paper argues that an accurate cognition of informal networks can itself be a base of power, above and beyond power attributable to informal and formal structural positions. To explore this claim, a small entrepreneurial firm was studied. Perceptions of the friendship and advice networks were compared to "actual" networks. Those who had more accurate cognitions of the advice network were rated as more powerful by others in the organization, although accuracy of the friendship network was not related to reputational power.
We challenge the claimed incommensurability of individualism and structuralism by showing how a cognitive theory can guide the use of structural methods. According to balance theory, there is a strain toward cognitive balance in observers' perceptions of friendship relations. Thus, we found, as predicted, that being perceived to have a prominent friend in an organization boosted an individual's reputation as a good performer, but that actually having such a friend (as assessed by conventional structural methods] had no effect. Bringing individual perceptions back into structural analysis enhances, rather than detracts from, the effectiveness of a structural approach.
This study explored the relationships between potential organizational power, viewed as structural position, and the use of power through behavioral tactics. Results indicate that structural position, measured as an individual's network centrality and level in the organizational hierarchy, and behavior-use of assertiveness, ingratiation, exchange, upward appeal, rationality, and coalition formation-relate independently and significantly to others' perceptions of the individual's power. In addition, structure partially mediated the relationship between behavior and power, and the behavioral strategies partially mediated the structure-power relationship. Significant interaction effects were also found.
A field study involving 190 employees in 38 work groups representing five diverse organizations provided evidence that social networks, as defined in terms of both positive and negative relations, are related to both individual and group performance. As hypothesized, individual job performance was positively related to centrality in advice networks and negatively related to centrality in hindrance networks composed of relationships tending to thwart task behaviors. Hindrance network density was significantly and negatively related to group performance.
A model integrating competing theories of social capital with research on career success was developed and tested in a sample of 448 employees with various occupations and organizations. Social capital was conceptualized in terms of network structure and social resources. Results of structural equation modeling showed that network structure was related to social resources and that the effects of social resources on career success were fully mediated by three network benefits: access to information, access to resources, and career sponsorship.
This paper explores the tension between two opposite views on how networks create social capital. Network closure (Coleman 1988) stresses the role of cohesive ties in fostering a normative environment that facilitate cooperation. Structural hole theory (Burt 1992) sees cohesive ties as a source of rigidity that hinders the coordination of complex organizational tasks. The two theories lead to opposite predictions on how the structure of an actor's network may affect his ability to adapt that network to a significant change in task environment. Using data from a newly created special unit within the Italian subsidiary of a multinational computer manufacturer, we show that managers with cohesive communication networks were less likely to adapt these networks to the change in coordination requirements prompted by their new assignments, which in turn jeopardized their role as facilitators of horizontal cooperation within a newly created business unit structure. We conclude with a discussion of the trade-off between the "safety" of cooperation within cohesive networks and the "flexibility" provided by networks rich in structural holes.
This paper examines how the structure and content of individuals' networks on the job affect intraorganizational mobility. Consistent with prior research, we find that mobility is enhanced by having large, dense networks of informal ties for acquiring information and resources. However, studies of networks and organizational careers have overlooked the importance of informal ties in transmitting social identity and normative expectations within organizations, which is facilitated by networks with the opposite features: smaller size and greater density. We use this argument as the basis for developing a typology of network contents, and we document this interaction between network structure and content in analyses of mobility among employees of a high technology firm. We also show how the effects of tie duration on mobility vary across types of network ties. The implications of these findings for theory and research on networks and organizational mobility are discussed.
This paper reviews the origins and definitions of social capital in the writings of Bourdieu, Loury, and Coleman, among other authors. It distinguishes four sources of social capital and examines their dynamics. Applications of the concept in the sociological literature emphasize its role in social control, in family support, and in benefits mediated by extrafamilial networks. I provide examples of each of these positive functions. Negative consequences of the same processes also deserve attention for a balanced picture of the forces at play. I review four such consequences and illustrate them with relevant examples. Recent writings on social capital have extended the concept from an individual asset to a feature of communities and even nations. The final sections describe this conceptual stretch and examine its limitations, I argue that, as shorthand for the positive consequences of sociability, social capital has a definite place in sociological theory. However, excessive extensions of the concept may jeopardize its heuristic value.
This paper uses data from the sales division of a financial services firm to investigate how a leader's centrality in external and internal social networks is related to the objective performance of the leader's group, and to the leader's personal reputation for leadership among subordinates, peers, and supervisors. External social network ties were based on the friendship ties among all 88 of the division's sales group leaders and the 10 high-ranking supervisors to whom they reported. Internal social network ties consisted of 28 separate networks, each representing the set of friendship relations among all members of a given sales group. Objective group performance data came directly from company records. Data on each group leader's personal reputation for leadership was based on the perceptions of three different constituencies: subordinates, peers, and supervisors. Results revealed that leaders' centrality in external and internal friendship networks was related both to objective measures of group performance and to their reputation for leadership among different organizational constituencies.
Despite the widespread interest in the topic of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), little empirical research has tested the fundamental assumption that these forms of behavior improve the effectiveness of work groups or organizations in which they are exhibited. In the present study, the effects of OCBs on the quantity and quality of the performance of 218 people working in 40 machine crews in a paper mill located in the Northeastern United States were examined. The results indicate that helping behavior and sportsmanship had significant effects on performance quantity and that helping behavior had a significant impact on performance quality. However, civic virtue had no effect on either performance measure.
This study examines the role of social network ties in the performance and receipt of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB), one form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A field study involving 141 employees of a manufacturing firm provided evidence that social network ties are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. Results support hypothesized relationships, which are based on social exchange theory, suggesting strength of friendship is related to performance and receipt of ICB. Support was also found for impression management-based hypotheses suggesting that asymmetric influence and 3rd-party influence are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. These relationships were significant when controlling for job satisfaction, commitment, procedural justice, hierarchical level, demographic similarity, and job similarity. Implications and directions for future research are addressed.
Drawing on social exchange and network structure theories, we investigate how third parties' social network structures are associated with managers' reputations for trustworthiness among their peers. Using a sample of senior managers from a large emergency response firm, we show that a manager's advocate network attributes such as network heterogeneity, nonoverlapping contacts, and network density all play key roles in enhancing a manager's peer reputation. We extend prior work on triads and trust by elucidating which third party will act as a focal manager's advocate and how an advocate's social network structure in turn enhances a manager's peer reputation.
The 1994 Special Research Forum on Intra- and Interorganizational Cooperation is dedicated to the proposition that issues of cooperation are fundamental to management success and of increasing importance in today's complex business world. After briefly reviewing the domain of cooperation, we use the content of the articles submitted for this special issue as a sample of current questions and research on cooperation and examine these studies relative to the domain. After introducing the work published here, we identify a set of questions pertinent to future research on cooperation.
This paper examines the relationship between leadership and formal and informal organizational structures. Focusing on dyads as the unit of analysis, we explore the effects of friendship and two kinds of formal ties on the presence or absence of leadership relations in three organizational settings. The ways in which formal and informal structures affect respect relations vary along a continuum for the three organizations from least to most hierarchical. Respect relations are predicted strongly by informal ties in the participatory organization, weakly in the professional organization, and not at all in the hierarchical organization. The pattern for formal ties is the opposite: formal reporting relations predict respect relations most strongly in the hierarchical organization, less strongly in the professional organization, and least strongly in the participatory organization. We also find that respect relations are affected differently by the combination of formal and informal social structures in the three organizations. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for research on leadership.
I present argument and evidence for a structural ecology of social capital that describes how the value of social capital to an individual is contingent on the number of people doing the same work. The information and control benefits of bridging the structural holes-or, disconnections between nonredundant contacts in a network-that constitute social capital are especially valuable to managers with few peers. Such managers do not have the guiding frame of reference for behavior provided by numerous competitors, and the work they do does not have the legitimacy provided by numerous people doing the same kind of work. I use network and performance data on a probability sample of senior managers to show how the value of social capital, high on average for the managers, varies as a power function of the number of people doing the same work.
The rapid growth of research on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) has resulted in some conceptual confusion about the nature of the construct, and made it difficult for all but the most avid readers to keep up with developments in this domain. This paper critically examines the literature on organizational citizenship behavior and other, related constructs. More specifically, it: (a) explores the conceptual similarities and differences between the various forms of “citizenship” behavior constructs identified in the literature; (b) summarizes the empirical findings of both the antecedents and consequences of OCBs; and (c) identifies several interesting directions for future research.
This article analyzes how a broker's ability to affect prices and extract superior value from its position has economic consequences for the actors tied to it. I argue that intermediaries may exercise partial control in price setting by transferring the price constraints imposed on them by the actors on one side of the market to those on the other side. In so doing, they generate unequal returns for the brokered parties, who then receive different prices due to the nature of the tie between the broker and its other exchange partners. I investigate this argument using a novel mix of quantitative and qualitative data gathered from an intermediary in the staffing sector. The results show that the broker is able to transfer discounts offered to valued buyers (clients) on to the sellers (workers) matched with them, instead of reducing its own margins. As a result, actors with the same resource endowments receive different prices depending on the relationships among other exchange partners in a given triadic network of ties. Using qualitative fieldwork, I elaborate on the mechanisms that make the quantitative results feasible, and I discuss the implications for our understanding of the processes, dynamics, and market stratification consequences of brokerage.
This paper proposes that organizations overcome problems of market uncertainty by adopting a principle of exclusivity in selecting exchange partners. This general proposition in turn implies two specific hypotheses. First, the greater the market uncertainty, the more that organizations engage in exchange relations with those with whom they have transacted in the past. Second, the greater the uncertainty, the more that organizations engage in transactions with those of similar status. A study of investment banking relationships in the investment grade and non-investment-grade debt markets from 1981 to 1987 provides support for the hypotheses. The implications of this analysis for stratification and concentration in the market are discussed.
Simple slopes, regions of significance, and confidence bands are commonly used to evaluate interactions in multiple linear regression (MLR) models, and the use of these techniques has recently been extended to multilevel or hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and latent curve analysis (LCA). However, conducting these tests and plotting the conditional relations is often a tedious and error-prone task. This article provides an overview of methods used to probe interaction effects and describes a unified collection of freely available online resources that researchers can use to obtain significance tests for simple slopes, compute regions of significance, and obtain confidence bands for simple slopes across the range of the moderator in the MLR, HLM, and LCA contexts. Plotting capabilities are also provided.
The testing and examination history in China can be traced back to the imper- ial period nearly two thousand years ago. The existence of English language testing (tests), on the other hand, has a much shorter history. These English tests, developed and administered over the past 20 years, however, are taken by billions of learners of the English language in China. To many of these learners, doing well on these tests are the key to their academic success as well as the success of their life in general. The paper will first introduce major tests and examinations of English designed and administered in China, then provide an overview of the current research in language testing that has been conducted by Chinese researchers and published in Chinese academic journals over the past 10 years. This paper will focus on the discussion of the issues and concerns of language testing within the Chinese context.
This study investigated the informal networks of white and minority managers. Minority managers had more racially heterogeneous and fewer intimate network relationships. Within the minority group, differences in advancement potential were associated with different network configurations: high-potential individuals balanced same- and cross-race contacts; others had networks dominated by ties to whites. High-potential minorities also had more contacts outside their groups, fewer high-status ties, and less overlap between their social and instrumental circles. Relative to whites, minority managers viewed similar network characteristics as providing less access to career benefits.
This study explored the effects of social capital, measured both absolutely and relatively, on CEO compensation in a sample of 61 CEO-compensation committee chairperson dyads. We controlled for variables representing economic, social comparison, and other social influence explanations for CEO compensation. Social similarity did not influence pay, but a chair's absolute social capital and a CEO's social capital relative to his or her chair's significantly increased CEO compensation. The potential of social capital explanations to increase understanding of the executive wage-setting process beyond that derived from simple economic theories is discussed.
Although the term "mentor" originated in Greek mythology, it has been only a decade since Kram's (1985) seminal book stimulated significant research on mentoring in organizations. This special issue brings together current empirical research and theory from diverse scholars who have been instrumental in advancing the field of mentoring. We first provide some background on the topic of mentoring and include a brief discussion of the changing nature of mentoring in organizations. Following this, we review the content of the special issue, starting with five research articles and concluding with four papers which describe new directions for theory building. We conclude with a discussion of needed research on mentoring in organizations.
This study deals with individual managerial performance, both overall and in generating innovation. While prior work has demonstrated a relationship between network structure and managerial performance, inadequate attention has been paid to network content. We consider several micro-social processes that might account for differences in managerial performance, taken from economic sociology and studies of managers' exploitation of their social networks and derived from work in psychology on the genesis of ideas. We compare the influence of these mechanisms on managerial performance using a sample of 106 middle managers in a European telecommunications company. Our findings suggest that, while network structure matters, access to heterogeneous knowledge is of equal importance for overall managerial performance and of greater importance for innovation performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2In an influential paper, Freeman (1979) identified three aspects of centrality: betweenness, nearness, and degree. Perhaps because they are designed to apply to networks in which relations are binary valued (they exist or they do not), these types of centrality have not been used in interlocking directorate research, which has almost exclusively used formula (2) below to compute centrality. Conceptually, this measure, of which c(ot, 3) is a generalization, is closest to being a nearness measure when 3 is positive. In any case, there is no discrepancy between the measures for the four networks whose analysis forms the heart of this paper. The rank orderings by the
I n this paper, we study the transition from planned venture to operational start-up in the emergent independent power sector. Planned ventures face tremendous obstacles in assembling the resources necessary to begin operations; we hypoth-esize and show that formal certification from authorized actors increases the likelihood of making this transition. Moreover, we find that the effects of certification are contingent on the legitimacy of the sector as a whole: Certifications have a stronger effect on start-ups when sector legitimacy is low than when it is high. This research helps us understand a rarely studied organizational transition—from entrepreneurial intention to actual operations—within nascent sectors. It directs attention to the legitimating effects of formal certification, highlights the importance of a multilevel approach to legitimacy, and contributes to the growing rapprochement between entrepreneurial studies and institutional theory.
This longitudinal study examines the impacts of supervisors' promotion paths and gatekeeper status on the career outcomes of technical subordinates in a dual ladder system. Results indicate that project supervisors significantly affect the chances of one's promotion along each track. Professionals reporting to supervisors promoted to the technical ladder were significantly more likely to also be promoted technically, especially in research. On the other hand, professionals reporting to gatekeeping supervisors in development were significantly more likely to be promoted up the managerial ladder. Gatekeeper status was more important in influencing subordinates' communication activities and subsequent promotions than supervisors' promotion path. These results underscore the importance of managing socialization and the career paths of gatekeepers and those reporting to them for enhancing the success of dual ladder reward systems.
Traditional models see leadership as a form of zero-sum game in which leader agency is achieved at the expense of follower agency and vice versa. Against this view, the present article argues that leadership is a vehicle for social identity-based collective agency in which leaders and followers are partners. Drawing upon evidence from a range of historical sources and from the BBC Prison Study, the present article explores the two sides of this partnership: the way in which a shared sense of identity makes leadership possible and the way in which leaders act as entrepreneurs of identity in order to make particular forms of identity and their own leadership viable. The analysis also focuses (a) on the way in which leaders' identity projects are constrained by social reality, and (b) on the manner in which effective leadership contributes to the transformation of this reality through the initiation of structure that mobilizes and redirects a group's identity-based social power.
Abstract This essay traces the development of the research enterprise, known as the social resources theory, which formulated and tested a number of propositions concerning the relationships between embedded resources in social networks and socioeconomic attainment. This enterprise, seen in the light of social capital, has accumulated a substantial body of research literature and supported the proposition that social capital, in terms of both access and mobilization of embedded resources, enhances the chances of attaining better statuses. Further, social capital is contingent on initial positions in the social hierarchies as well as on extensity of social ties. The essay concludes with a discussion of remaining critical issues and future research directions for this research enterprise.
A model hypothesizing relationship quality and relationship context as antecedents of two complementary forms of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) was tested. Measures with coworkers as the frame of reference were used to collect data from 273 individuals working in 2 service-oriented organizations. As hypothesized, variables reflecting relationship quality were associated with person-focused ICB, as mediated by empathic concern. Also as hypothesized, a relationship context variable, network centrality, exhibited a direct relationship with task-focused ICB. Unexpectedly, network centrality was directly associated with person-focused ICB. and empathic concern was associated with task-focused ICB. The results are discussed, and implications for research and practice are offered.
Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations.