Homophily and Individual Performance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ertug, Gokhan; Gargiulo, Martin; Galunic, Charles; Zou, Tengjian
• 署名单位: Singapore Management University; Singapore Management University; INSEAD Business School; INSEAD Business School; INSEAD Business School
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2018.1208
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 912-930
• 关键词: Homophily; social networks; Social capital; KNOWLEDGE WORKERS; performance

摘要

We study the relationship between choice homophily in instrumental relationships and individual performance in knowledge-intensive organizations. Although homophily should make it easier for people to get access to some colleagues, it may also lead to neglecting relationships with other colleagues, reducing the diversity of information people access through their network. Using data on instrumental ties between bonus-eligible employees in the equity sales and trading division of a global investment bank, we show that the relationship between an employee's choice of similar colleagues and the employee's performance is contingent on the position this employee occupies in the formal and informal hierarchy of the bank. More specifically, homophily is negatively associated with performance for bankers in the higher levels of the formal and informal hierarchy whereas the association is either positive or nonexistent for lower hierarchical levels.