Christian Waldstrøm

Social relations among managers: old boys and young women's networks

Purpose – This study seeks to investigate whether there are gender differences in the importance placed on two types of network support among managers in organisations. Prior research indicates that it can be expected that female managers will not have their social contact needs satisfied to the same extent as their male colleagues and that female managers do not regard their nearest colleagues as friends to the same extent as male managers.Design/methodology/approach – Large scale survey of managers in Denmark.Findings – The first hypothesis is neither supported nor rejected, since the gender differences are strongly influenced by age, when controlling for sector, marital status, and children living at home. While male managers tend to see their colleagues more as friends, the older they are, the reverse is true of female managers. The second hypothesis is clearly rejected, since no gender differences are found.Originality/value – The paper identifies the crucial role of age in the gender differences in ...

Work values of surviving and non‐surviving managers during economic recession

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to compare work values of surviving and non‐surviving managers during a period of general economic recession in Hong Kong associated with the Asian financial crisis.Design/methodology/approach – Involving a natural field experiment, data on work values were collected from ethnic Chinese Hong Kong managers employed by local companies. The two sub‐samples were established over the period of study, from 1995 to 1998, but all variables concerning these two groups were measured in 1995, well before the Asian financial crisis struck in 1997.Findings – Results indicate that survivors attached more importance to independence in work and to have influence in the organisation than the non‐survivors. On the other hand, non‐surviving managers attached more importance to responsibility and to have an opportunity to meet people and interact with them than survivors.Research limitations/implications – In future studies, the longitudinal investigation can be improved, non‐Asian l...

Examining the Overlap Individual Performance Benefits of Multiplex Relationships

Scholars have long been aware of the advantages of social capital to individual performance. It remains unclear whether these advantages reflect the effects of relationships in which people discuss only work-related issues, or whether they are attributable to the effects of multiplex relationships, in which people discuss work-related and non-work-related issues. To investigate this question, we conducted two studies using network analysis: a cross-sectional study of specialty bank employees and a longitudinal study of middle managers enrolled in an MBA course. Multiplex relationships consistently predicted performance advantages in both samples, whereas work-focused ties that excluded a social dimension did not. Furthermore, when individuals maintained too many multiplex relationships, performance returns diminished. These findings demonstrate that the network literature may benefit from greater specificity on relational content and more attention to the consequences of overlapping networks, in the form of multiplex ties.