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Introduction
Past studies have examined the causal structure between
technology and organizational power, and have examined
firm performance by incorporating technology into social
networks research
This article mainly studies how employees network ties
affects access to important resources that in turn serves as a
key mechanism contributing positively to job performance
Both online and offline networks and both indirect and direct
ties are studied
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About The Authors
Xiaojun Zhang:
Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology, 2011
Assistant Professor, HEC Montreal, 2010
Software Developer, JB Hunt Transport Services, Inc., U.S.,
2003-2005
This is Zhangs 4th article written in an a information systemsjournals, he has also publish several papers
Viswanath Venkatesh:
Distinguished Professor,Information Systems University of
Arkansas.
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Presentation Outline
Background
o Social Network Theory
Hypothesis Development
o Method
Result
o Practical Implications
Conclusions
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Background: Social Network Theory
A social network is:
a specific set of linkages among a defined set of persons, with
the additional property that the characteristics of theselinkages as a whole may be used to interpret the social
behavior of the persons involved (Mitchelle 1969, p. 2).
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Social Network Theory
The network is made up of nodes & ties
Persons = nodes
Relationships between the persons = Ties
By understanding the social network theory, we are able to
see how nodes obtain resources through their indirect and
direct ties
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Indirect & Direct Ties
FIGURE 1
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Obtaining Resources
Understand mechanism which enables an individual to gain
resources
Based on social research
o strong ties, weak ties, fast receipt of information, networkreach, network reach, network homophily, information
integrity, maintenance cost & third party surveillance
Based on IT research
o resolving temporal and spatial constraints, transmittingcontextual information, transmitting information in
parallel, & documenting and retrieving information
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Social based mechanisms
Based on how networks interact with one another
(relationship based)
o strong ties develops trust which allows for transferring of
knowledge easier (also applies for information integrity) -compare to weak ties
o network reach is the ability to reach as many people to
make as much network as possible, allows a spillover of
information
o network homophily connects people with similar
personalities
o maintenance cost is how much time an effort it takes to
obtain information from a network
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IT based mechanisms
Based on more technical part that will affect an
individual's capability to create a network
o Resolving temporal and spatial constraints - time
management & barriers (communication)o Transmitting contextual information - perception of the
information given (text message vs. face-to-face)
o Documenting and retrieving information - too much
information can be a bad thing
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Online vs. Offline contd
FIGURE 2.
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Hypotheses DevelopmentH1(a): Offline direct ties will be positively related to job performance.
H1(b): Offline indirect ties will be positively related to job performance.
H1(c): Offline indirect ties positively moderate the relationship between offline direct ties
and job performance.
H2(a): Online direct ties will be positively related to job performance.
H2(b): Online indirect ties will be positively related to job performance.
H2(c): Online indirect ties positively moderate the relationship between online direct ties
and job performance.
H3: Offline direct ties positively moderate the relationship between online direct ties and
job performance.
H4: Offline indirect ties positively moderate the relationship between online indirect ties
and job performance.
H5: Offline direct ties positively moderate the relationship between online indirect ties and
job performance.H6: Offline indirect ties positively moderate the relationship between online direct ties and
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Hypotheses Development
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Method
Participants Fortune 500 telecommunications company in the US
Knowledge workers, software engineers, analysts, and
technical leads from one business unit.
response rate : 87 %
Data Collection Asked the manager of the business unit the names of all
the employees in the business unit to create a roster that
was then used to collect the social network data.
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Method
Measurement
Online & Offline Network Ties
Direct ties
Indirect ties
Online communication
Offline communication
Job Performance
Five-item scale
the supervisor of each of the participating employees
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Results
Reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the
scales examined
Cronbachs alphas, descriptive statistics and correlations shown
Model tested using hierarchical regression analysis
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Main effects
Traditional unitary
conceptualization
explained 25% of
the variance in job
performance
H1(a), H2(a), H2(b)
supported, H1(b)
not supported
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Interaction Effects
The
complementarities
explained 40% of
the variance in job
performance
H1(c), H2(c), H3, H4
supported, H5
and H6 not
supported
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Practical Implications
Organizations should consider the role of social networks in
maximizing the benefits of ICTs
Research provide explanations regarding how the impact of ICTson job performance is transferred via communication networks
in that employees who have large number of direct and indirect
contacts in both online and offline networks are more capable of
acquiring and leveraging useful resources to enhance their jobperformance
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Practical Implications
Specifically...
Employees increase the number of offline direct tiesto ease a
transfer of complex knowledge Employees that work on projects that require innovation,
would be more effective to leverage their online indirect ties
to help them get access to diverse and new information (Ahuja
2000) Develop communication structures that reduce the time to
receive assistance or feedback when needed
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Limitations
The study considers telephone communication as anoffline network but was only considering face to face as
offline communication.
only examined the structural property of the networks on
job performance, not accounting for structural holes or
network constraints
compares offline and online networks but doesnt ask how
employees leverage networks and use online and offline
networks that compliment one another.
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Opinions and Conclusions
0 The result gives opportunities to develop technologies to
enhance online networking
0 Age should have also been a controlled variable
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References
Ahuja, G. 2000. Collaboration Networks, Structural Holes, and Innovation: A Longitudinal Study,
Administrative Science Quarterly (45:3), pp. 425-455.
Koh, J., Kim, Y. G., Butler, B. S., and Bock, G. W. 2007. Encouraging Pariticpation in Virtual Communities,
Communications of the ACM (50:2), pp. 69-73
Mitchell, J. C. 1969. The Concept and Use of Social Networks, in Socil Networks in Urban Situations, J. C.
Mitchell (ed.).
Walther, J. B. 1995. Relational Aspects of Computer-Mediated Communication: Experimental
Observations over Time, Organization Science (6:2), pp. 186-203
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