Social networks and the cognitive motivation to realize network opportunities: A study of managers' information gathering behaviors

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Volumn 29, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 51-78

  Anderson, Marc H ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 38349169855     PISSN: 08943796     EISSN: 10991379     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/job.459     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Adler, P. S., & Kwon, S.-W. (2002). Social capital: Prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 27, 17-40.
2. Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
3. Ancona, D. G., & Caldwell, D. F. (1992). Bridging the boundary: External activity and performance in organizational teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 634-665.
4. Anderson, M. H. (2007). Information gathering and changes in threat and opportunity perceptions. Journal of Management Studies, 44, 367-387.
5. Bailey, J. R. (1997). Need for cognition and response mode in the active construction of an information domain. Journal of Economic Psychology, 18, 69-85.
6. Barry, B., & Stewart, G. L. (1997). Composition, process, and performance in self-managed groups: The role of personality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 62-78.
7. Beaty, J. C., Cleveland, J. N., & Murphy, K. R. (2001). The relation between personality and contextual performance in "strong" versus "weak" situations. Human Performance, 14, 125-148.
8. Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
9. Borgatti, S. P. (1997). Structural holes: Unpacking Burt's redundancy measures. Connections, 20, 35-38.
10. Boyd, B. K., & Fulk, J. (1996). Executive scanning and perceived uncertainty: A multidimensional model. Journal of Management, 22, 1-21.
11. Buchner, A., Erdfelder, E., & Faul, F. (2001). How to use G'Power [WWW document]. URL http://www.psycho.uni-duesseldorf.de/aap/projects/gpower/ how_to_use_gpower.html
12. Burkhardt, M. E. (1994). Social interaction effects following a technological change: A longitudinal investigation. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 869-898.
13. Burt, R. S. (1986). Comment. In S. Lindberg, J. S. Coleman, & S. Novak (Eds.), Approaches to social theory (pp. 105-107). New York: Russell Sage.
14. Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
15. Burt, R. S. (1997a). The contingent value of social capital. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 339-365.
16. Burt, R. S. (1997b). A note on social capital and network content. Social Networks, 19, 355-373.
17. Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. In B. M. Staw, & R. I. Sutton (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 22, pp. 345-423). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
18. Burt, R. S., Jannotta, J. E., & Mahoney, J. T. (1998). Personality correlates of structural holes. Social Networks, 20, 63-87.
19. Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 116-131.
20. Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Feinstein, J. A., & Jarvis, W. B. G. (1996). Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 197-253.
21. Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., & Kao, C. F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 306-307.
22. Carroll, G. R., & Teo, A. C. (1996). On the social networks of managers. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 421-440.
23. Casciaro, T. (1998). Seeing things clearly: Social structure, personality, and accuracy in social network perception. Social Networks, 20, 331-351.
24. Coleman, J. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, P4(Supplement), S95-S120.
25. Connolly, T. (1977). Information processing and decision making in organizations. In B. M. Staw, & G. R. Salancik (Eds.), New directions in organizational behavior (pp. 205-234). Chicago: St. Clair Press.
26. Conrath, D. W., Higgins, C. A., & McClean, R. J. (1983). A comparison of the reliability of questionnaire versus diary data. Social Networks, 5, 315-322.
27. Cross, R., & Sproull, L. (2004). More than an answer: Information relationships for actionable knowledge. Organization Science, 15, 446-462.
28. Daft, R. L., & Macintosh, N. B. (1981). A tentative exploration into the amount and equivocality of information processing in organizational work units. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 207-224.
29. Daft, R. L., Sormunen, J., & Parks, D. (1988). Chief executive scanning, environmental characteristics, and company performance: An empirical study. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 123-139.
30. Daft, R. L., & Weick, K. E. (1984). Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Academy of Management Review, 9, 284-295.
31. D'Aveni, R. A., & MacMillan, I. (1990). Crisis and the content of managerial communications: A study of the focus of attention of top managers in surviving and failing firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 634-657.
32. Davies, M. F. (1998). Dogmatism and belief formation: Output interference in the processing of supporting and contradictory cognitions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 456-466.
33. Dermer, J. D. (1973). Cognitive characteristics and the perceived importance of information. The Accounting Review, 45, 511-519.
34. Diamantopoulos, A., & Winklhofer, H. M. (2001). Index construction with formative indicators: An alternative to scale development. Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 269-277.
35. Dollinger, M. J. (1984). Environmental boundary spanning and information processing effects on organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 27, 351-368.
36. Dukerich, J. M., & Nichols, M. L. (1991). Causal information search in managerial decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 106-122.
37. Emirbayer, M., & Goodwin, J. (1994). Network analysis, culture, and the problem of agency. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 1411-1454.
38. Erdfelder, E., Faul, F., & Buchner, A. (1996). G'Power: A general power analysis program. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 28, 1-11.
39. Evans, P., & Wurster, T. S. (1999). Getting real about virtual commerce. Harvard Business Review, 77(6), 84-94.
40. Fichman, M. (1999). Variance explained: Why size does not (always) matter. In B. M. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 21, pp. 295-331). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
41. Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1993). Social cognition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
42. Friedkin, N. E. (1993). Structural bases of interpersonal influence in groups: A longitudinal case study. American Sociological Review, 58, 861-872.
43. Friedrich, R. J. (1982). In defense of multiplicative terms in multiple regression equations. American Journal of Political Science, 26, 797-833.
44. Ferguson, T. D., & Ketchen, D. J. (1999). Organizational configurations and performance: The role of statistical power in extant research. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 385-395.
45. Gabbay, S. M., & Leenders, R. T. A. J. (2001). Social capital in organizations: From social structure to the management of corporate social capital. In S. M. Gabbay, & R. T. A. J. Leenders (Eds.), Research in the sociology of organizations (Vol. 18, pp. 1-20). Oxford: JAI Press.
46. Garg, V K., Walters, B. A., & Priem, R. L. (2003). Chief executive scanning emphases, environmental dynamism, and manufacturing firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 24, 725-744.
47. Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
48. Granovetter, M. S. (1995). Getting a job (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
49. Hambrick, D. C. (1981). Specialization of environmental scanning activities among upper level executives. Journal of Management Studies, 18, 299-320.
50. Hansen, M. T. (1999). The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organizational subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 82-111.
51. Hansen, M. T., Mors, M. L., & Lovas, B. (2005). Knowledge sharing in organizations: Multiple networks, multiple phases. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 776-793.
52. Hansen, M. T., Podolny, J. M., & Pfeffer, J. (2001). So many ties, so little time: A task contingency perspective on corporate social capital in organizations. In S. M. Gabbay, & R. T. A. J. Leenders (Eds.), Research in the sociology of organizations (Vol. 18, pp. 21-57). Oxford: JAI Press.
53. Hofmann, D. A., & Jones, L. M. (2005). Leadership, collective personality, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 509-522.
54. Huber, G. P. (1991). Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science. 2, 88-115.
55. Ibarra, H. (1992). Homophily and differential returns: Sex differences in network structure and access in an advertising firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 422-447.
56. Ibarra, H. (1995). Race, opportunity, and diversity of social circles in managerial networks. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 673-703.
57. Jones, J. W., & McLeod, R. (1986). The structure of executive information systems: An exploratory analysis. Decision Sciences, 17, 220-249.
58. Kiesler, S., & Sproull, L. (1982). Managerial response to changing environments: Perspectives on problem sensing from social cognition, Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 548-570.
59. Kilduff, M. (1992). The friendship network as a decision-making resource: Dispositional moderators of social influences on organizational choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 168-180.
60. Kilduff, M., & Tsai, W. (2003). Social networks and organizations. London: Sage.
61. Klein, K. J., Lim, B-C., Saltz, J. L., & Mayer, D. M. (2004). How do they get there? An examination of the antecedents of centrality in team networks. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 952-963.
62. Krackhardt, D. (1992). The strength of strong ties: The importance of philos in organizations. In N. Nohria, & R. G. Eccles (Eds.), Networks and organizations (pp. 216-239). Boston: Harvard University Press.
63. Lee, H., Herr, P. M., Kardes, F. R., & Kim, C. (1999). Motivated search: Effects of choice accountability, issue involvement, and prior knowledge on information acquisition and use. Journal of Business Research, 45, 75-88.
64. Levin, I. P., Huneke, M. E., & Jasper, J. D. (2000). Information processing at successive stages of decision making: Need for cognition and inclusion-exclusion effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82, 171-193.
65. Li, D., & Browne, G. J. (2006). The role of need for cognition and mood in online flow experience. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 46, 11-17.
66. MacCallum, R. C., Zhang, S., Preacher, K. J., & Rucker, D. D. (2002). On the practice of dichotomization of quantitative variables. Psychological Methods, 7, 19-40.
67. Mazen, A. M. M., Hemmasi, M., & Lewis, M. F. (1987). Assessment of statistical power in contemporary strategy research. Strategic Management Journal, 8, 403-410.
68. McEvily, B., & Zaheer, A. (1999). Bridging ties: A source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 1133-1156.
69. Mehra, A., Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. (2001). The social networks of high and low self-monitors: Implications for workplace performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 121-146.
70. Mintzberg, H., Raisinghani, D., & Theoret, A. (1976). The structure of 'unstructured' decision processes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, 246-275.
71. Mischel, W. (1977). The interaction of person and situation. In D. Magnusson, & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Personality at the crossroads: Current issues in interactional psychology (pp. 333-352). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
72. Mischel, W. (2004). Toward an integrative science of the person. In S. T. Fiske, D. L. Schacter, & C. Zahn-Waxier (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology (Vol. 55, pp. 1-22). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
73. Morrison, E. W. (2002). Newcomers' relationships: The role of social network ties during socialization. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 1149-1160.
74. Morrison, E. W., & Vancouver, J. B. (2000). Within-person analysis of information seeking: The effects of perceived costs and benefits. Journal of Management, 26, 119-137.
75. Murphy, R. (1994). Attributional complexity: Information search and integration during causal reasoning. Journal of Research in Personality, 28, 382-394.
76. Murray, S. O., Rankin, J. H., & Magill, D. W. (1981). Strong ties and job information. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 8, 119-136.
77. Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23, 242-266.
78. Nohria, N. (1992). Information and search in the creation of new business ventures: The case of the 128 Venture Group. In N. Nohria, & R. G. Eccles (Eds.), Networks and organizations (pp. 240-261). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
79. O'Connor, B. P. (1998). SIMPLE: All-in-one programs for exploring interactions in moderated multiple regression. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 836-840.
80. O'Reilly, C. A. (1980). Individuals and information overload in organizations: Is more necessarily better? Academy of Management Journal, 23, 684-696.
81. O'Reilly, C. A. (1983). The use of information in organizational decision making: A model and some propositions. In B. M. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 5, pp. 103-139). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
82. O'Reilly, C. A., & Chatman, J. A. (1994). Working smarter and harder: A longitudinal study of managerial success. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39, 603-627.
83. Perry-Smith, J. E. (2006). Social yet creative: The role of social relationships in facilitating individual creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 85-101.
84. Pervin, L. A. (1989). Persons, situations, interactions: The history of a controversy and a discussion of theoretical models. Academy of Management Review, 14, 350-360.
85. Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations. New York: Harper & Row.
86. Podolny, J. M., & Baron, J. N. (1997). Resources and relationships: Social networks and mobility in the workplace. American Sociological Review, 62, 673-693.
87. Powell, W. P., & Smith-Doerr, L. (1994). Networks and economic life. In N. J. Smelser, & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Handbook of economic sociology (pp. 368-402). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
88. Reagans, R., & McEvily, B. (2003). Network structure and knowledge transfer: The effects of cohesion and range. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 240-267.
89. Riley, D., & Eckenrode, J. (1986). Social ties: Subgroup differences in costs and benefits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 770-778.
90. Sadowski, C. J., & Cogburn, H. E. (1997). Need for cognition in the Big-Five factor structure. Journal of Psychology, 131, 307-312.
91. Schneider, B. (1983). Interactional psychology and organizational behavior. In B. M. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 5, pp. 1-31). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
92. Seibert, S. E., Kraimer, M. L., & Liden, R. C. (2001). A social capital theory of career success. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 219-237.
93. Simmel, G. (1955). In K. H. Wolff, & R. Bendix (Eds.), Conflict and the web of group affiliations. New York: Free Press.
94. Sproull, L. S. (1984). The nature of managerial attention. In L. S. Sproull, & P. D. Larkey (Eds.), Advances in information processing in organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 9-27). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
95. Srinivasan, N., & Agrawal, J. (1988). The relationship between prior knowledge and external search. Advances in Consumer Research, 15, 27-31.
96. Stabell, C. B. (1978). Integrative complexity of information environment perception and information use: An empirical investigation. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 22, 116-142.
97. Stevenson, W. B., & Greenberg, D. (2000). Agency and social networks: Strategies of action in a social structure of position, opposition, and opportunity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 651-678.
98. Sutcliffe, K. M. (1997). Commentary: Strategic sense-making: Learning through scanning, interpretation, action, and performance. In P. Shrivastava, A. S. Huff, & J. E. Dutton (Eds.), Advances in strategic management (Vol. 14, pp. 331-336). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
99. Thomas, J. B., Clark, S. M., & Gioia, D. A. (1993). Strategic sensemaking and organizational performance: Linkages among scanning, interpretation, action, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 239-270.
100. Uzzi, B. (1997). Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: The paradox of embeddedness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 35-67.
101. Verplanken, B., Hazenberg, P. T., & Palenewen, G. R. (1992). Need for cognition and external information search effort. Journal of Research in Personality, 26, 128-136.
102. Weick, K. E., & Daft, R. L. (1983). The effectiveness of interpretation systems. In K. Cameron, & D. Whetten (Eds.), Organizational effectiveness: A comparison of multiple models (pp. 71-93). New York: Academic.
103. Zwijze-Koning, K. H., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2005). Auditing information structures in organizations: A review of data collection techniques for network analysis. Organizational Research Methods, 8, 429-453.