Zooming In and Out: Connecting Individuals and Collectivities at the Frontiers of Organizational Network Research
Abstract
The role of individual action in the enactment of structures of constraint and opportunity has proved to be particularly elusive for network researchers. We propose three frontiers for future network research that zoom back and forth between individual and collective levels of analysis. First, we consider how dilemmas concerning social capital can be reconciled. Actors striving to reap maximal network advantages may benefit or detract from the collective good; investigating these trade-offs, we argue, will advance our understanding of learning and knowledge processes in organizations. Second, we explore identity emergence and change from a social network perspective. Insights about how networks mold and signal identity are a critical foundation for future work on career dynamics and the workplace experiences of members of diverse groups. Third, we consider how individual cognitions about shifting network connections affect, and are affected by, larger social structures. As scholarly interest in status and reputational signaling grows, articulating more clearly the cognitive foundations of organizational networks becomes imperative.
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Frequent interactions and being embedded in a dense, high-closure network can facilitate identification processes.
“Frequent interactions and being embedded in a dense, high-closure network can also facilitate identification processes (Ibarra et al. 2005).”
From The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension (2017) · cites this paper as Ibarra et al. 2005
All three dimensions of social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive) are underpinned by social identification processes.
“Potentially, therefore, all three dimensions of SC (structural, relational, and cognitive) are underpinned by social identification processes.”
From The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension (2017) · cites this paper as Ibarra et al. 2005
Social identification is foundational to all three forms of social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive).
“we see social identification, the primary mechanism through which the processes enumerated in the foregoing sections operate, as foundational to all three forms of SC (cf.Ibarra et al. 2005;Kilduff and Cor-ley 1999;Kilduff and Tsai 2003;Tsai and Ghoshal 1998).”
From The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension (2017) · cites this paper as Ibarra et al. 2005
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Relational leadership theory: exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing
Uhl-Bien, M. (2006) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.007 · Cited by 1,973 · see citing works
Stam, W., & Elfring, T. (2008) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2008.30744031 · Cited by 1,218 · see citing works
The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension
Pillai, K. G., Hodgkinson, G. P., Kalyanaram, G., & Nair, S. R. (2017) · International Journal of Management Reviews · doi:10.1111/ijmr.12085 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
On visualizing knowledge flows at a university department
Windhager, F., Smuc, M., Zenk, L., Federico, P., Pfeffer, J., & Aigner, W. (2013) · Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.704 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ibarra, H., Kilduff, M., & Tsai, W.
- Affiliations
- INSEAD (FR)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Venue
- Organization Science
- Published
- 2005-08
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 359-371
- ISSN
- 1047-7039 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-5455
- OpenAlex
- W2129316697
- Cited by
- 518
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 28.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Organization Science (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Pennsylvania State University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- organizational networks, social capital, public goods, organizational learning, career dynamics, workplace diversity, status signaling, individual cognition
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