OB
MOC
Francesca Nannetti
NEOMA Business School, France
Teodora Tomova Shakur
Texas Christian U., United States
The networks we build have immediate effects on our professional well-being. Individuals with fruitful networks tend to get more job offers, higher salaries, and better post-hiring outcomes such as fit, socialization, and mentorship opportunities (e.g., Bartus, 2001; Castilla, 2005; Fernandez et al., 2000; Granovetter, 1973). However, there are multiple socio-cultural and demographic factors that affect people’s intentions to network, the networking strategies they employ, and the way they utilize their networks for professional advancement. For instance, prior studies indicate that high-power individuals tend to express greater comfort with networking, whereas low-power individuals may view it as unacceptable behavior (Casciaro et al., 2014). People with high socioeconomic status also tend to rely on their networks during job searches, while others prefer to avoid mobilizing their social capital and secure a job on their own (Cao & Smith, 2021). Considering gender as a categorizing characteristic, past research shows that men tend to mobilize their networks during job search or broker successfully, while women can get penalized for agentically utilizing contacts (Brands & Kilduff, 2013). Although the right strides have been made to identify key demographic characteristics such as socio-economic status and gender and the role they play in social networks and networking, a lot remains misunderstood. Namely, do individuals’ perceptions of their own prestige affect how they create, maintain, and utilize their networks during job search? Do the motives that observers hold towards individuals who network and their intentions to help such individuals professionally impact social networking? The factors shaping individuals' experiences in forming, sustaining, and utilizing social networks continue to be elusive, with scientists grappling to comprehend the underlying reasons and devise interventions to mitigate differences that may arise from these different approaches to networks. This symposium takes a process perspective and explores the journey the ego and alters undergo during the social network evolution. Our session delves into the mechanisms that elucidate the diverse utilization of network ties, leading to distinct network evolutions. Moreover, we explore how these mechanisms vary across social or demographic characteristics to understand sources of inequality shaped in social networks and their evolution over time. The papers included explore how social comparisons at work affect job search intentions; how third-party attributions to why people network affect collaboration patterns, leadership perceptions, and likelihood to help; how third-party attributions to the merit of people who utilize their networks for job advancement determine third party’s subsequent behavior towards them at work, and finally, what social interventions can organizations perform to design the networks of their employees such that it enhances their search process and promotes inclusivity. In all, this symposium looks at the effects of various socio-cultural factors such as gender, motives, social standing, and prestige to commence to discern the complex patterns of networking and network evolution in the workplace.
Author: Artemis Boulamatsi – Neeley School of Business - Texas Christian U.
Author: Nikolaos E. Dimotakis – Oklahoma State U.
Author: Andreas Stefan Schuster – HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Author: Dominik Kanbach – HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Author: Theresa M. Floyd – U. of Montana
Author: Seong Won Yang – U. of Mississippi
Author: Teodora Tomova Shakur – Texas Christian U.
Author: Arushi Aggarwal – ESSEC Business School
Author: Elisa Operti – ESSEC Business School