Social Networks

Social networks

sets of people who are meaningfully connected to an individual through social interactions

vital part of organizational life

• major source of power and influence

• importance sources of help and support

over time, people who develop an advantageous one are better positioned to accumulate valuable resources and impact a bigger audience

Social Capital

potential to acquire resources, favors, or information through personal connections

• has predictive value controlling for a person’s individual differences and KSAs in terms of career success

Benefits of Social Captial

Short term: ~75% of jobs are filled through personal connections

Long Term: longest studies of happiness have found that having high quality relationships is the strongest predictor of life satisfaction

Central Connectors

Social Network Properties: Role

people who are linked to the greatest number of people

benefits:

• greater access to info and expertise

• more resources at your disposal you can use

• greater visibility

implications for behaviors

• job performance: controlling KSAs, central actors tend to perform better than peripheral actors

Boundary Spanners

Social Network Properties: Role

People who connect one disconnected cluster to another

Benefits:

• access to unique and nonredundant info

• control and leverage over how two groups will communicate or what info gets shared

implications for behaviors:

• job performance: particularly advantageous if creativity or innovation is a key measure of performance

Instrumental Ties

Social Network Properties: Content

(Advice Ties) relationships that people seek out for inherently task-related issues

• people who can offer expertise or guidance to help carry out a task

  • help reduce ambiguity or uncertainty about how to navigate the job

• implication for behaviors

  • job performance: people with more advice ties are more likely to develop workable solutions

Expressive Ties

Social Network Properties: Content

(Friendship Ties) relationships that extend beyond job-related info

• people who can offer emotional support and connection

  • requires spending time outside of work

• implications for behaviors

  • turnover: having friends at work promotes positive job attitudes and intentions to stay

Strong Ties

Social Network Properties: Composition

people you know very well and interact with on a regular basis

• family, best friends, significant other

marked by intimacy/closeness: offer you a sense of belonging, companionship, and comfort

Weak Ties

people you know but interact with infrequently or on a need-to basis

• classmates, faculty/staff members, other friends

marked by distance: offer different perspectives, unique information, and novelty

Strength of Weak Ties

• ~57% of people found their jobs through contacts they spoke with occasionally (1973, Granovetter)

• people you regularly interact with are likely in the same social circle as you meaning that they largely operate with the same facts and info you have

• acquaintances are more likely to know something you don’t know which can open job opportunities

Six Degrees of Separation

all people in the world are six or fewer connections away from each other (Karinthy, 1929)

• average path to get to unknown people is 6 (not min) (Watts, 2001)

To leverage social capital, best to be two or fewer degrees away from your connection

• more direction connections come with a greater likelihood of social normas such as reciprocity working in your favor