Ray Reagans

Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range:

This research considers how different features of informal networks affect knowledge transfer. As a complement to previous research that has emphasized the dyadic tie strength component of informal networks, we focus on how network structure influences the knowledge transfer process. We propose that social cohesion around a relationship affects the willingness and motivation of individuals to invest time, energy, and effort in sharing knowledge with others. We further argue that the network range, ties to different knowledge pools, increases a persons ability to convey complex ideas to heterogeneous audiences. We also examine explanations for knowledge transfer based on absorptive capacity, which emphasizes the role of common knowledge, and relational embeddedness, which stresses the importance of tie strength. We investigate the network effect on knowledge transfer using data from a contract R&D firm. The results indicate that both social cohesion and network range ease knowledge transfer, over and above the effect for the strength of the tie between two people. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on effective knowledge transfer, social capital, and information diffusion.

Individual Experience and Experience Working Together: Predicting Learning Rates from Knowing Who Knows What and Knowing How to Work Together

Learning by doing represents an important mechanism through which organizations prosper. Some firms, however, learn from their experience at a dramatic rate, while other firms exhibit very little learning at all. Three factors have been identified that affect the rate at which firms learn: (a) the proficiency of individual workers, (b) the ability of firm members to leverage knowledge accumulated by others, and (c) the capacity for coordinated activity inside the organization. Each factor varies with a particular kind of experience. An increase in cumulative individual experience increases individual proficiency. An increase in cumulative organizational experience provides individuals with the opportunity to benefit from knowledge accumulated by others. An increase in cumulative experience working together promotes more effective coordination and teamwork. To gain insight into factors responsible for the learning curve, we examine the contribution of each kind of experience to performance, while controlling for the impact of the other two. The study context is a teaching hospital. The task is a total joint replacement procedure, and the performance metric is procedure completion time. We find that each kind of experience makes a distinct contribution to team performance. We discuss the implications of our findings for the learning-by-doing framework in general, and learning in the team context in particular.

Helping one's way to the top: self-monitors achieve status by helping others and knowing who helps whom.

The authors argue that high self-monitors may be more sensitive to the status implications of social exchange and more effective in managing their exchange relations to elicit conferrals of status than low self-monitors. In a series of studies, they found that high self-monitors were more accurate in perceiving the status dynamics involved both in a set of fictitious exchange relations and in real relationships involving other members of their social group. Further, high self-monitors elevated their social status among their peers by establishing a reputation as a generous exchange partner. Specifically, they were more likely than low self-monitors to be sought out for help and to refrain from asking others for help. This behavior provides one explanation for why high self-monitors acquire elevated status among their peers--they are more attuned to status dynamics in exchange relations and adapt their behavior in ways that elicit status.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Managing Knowledge in Organizations: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge

Interest in the issues of organizational learning and knowledge management on the part of academics and practitioners increased dramatically in recent years. On the practical side, changes in technology and modes of organizing work, globalization, and increased competition brought the issues of organizational learning and knowledge management to center stage for organizations. New developments in computing and information technology enabled the retention and transfer of information in organizations on a larger scale than was once possible. Shifts to more distributed modes of organizing work made knowledge transfer a priority for firms. The greater prevalence of the multiunit organizational form, such as a franchise or chain (Baum and Greve 2001), and the greater frequency of interorganizational relationships (Powell et al. 1996) also increased the importance of knowledge transfer for firms. Parallel to the surge in interest among practitioners, academic interest in organizational learning and knowledge management also grew considerably, as evidenced by the proliferation of books and articles recently published on the subject.1 In addition, a

Power, Status, and Learning in Organizations

This paper reviews the scholarly literature on the effects of social hierarchy---differences in power and status among organizational actors---on collective learning in organizations and groups. We begin with the observation that theories of organization and group learning have tended to adopt a rational system model, a model that emphasizes goal-directed and cooperative interactions between and among actors who may differ in knowledge and expertise but are undifferentiated with respect to power and status. Our review of the theoretical and empirical literatures on power, status, and learning suggests that social hierarchy can complicate a rational system model of collective learning by disrupting three critical learning-related processes: anchoring on shared goals, risk taking and experimentation, and knowledge sharing. We also find evidence to suggest that the stifling effects of power and status differences on collective learning can be mitigated when advantaged actors are collectively oriented. Indeed, our review suggests that higher-ranking actors who use their power and status in more “socialized” ways can play critical roles in stimulating collective learning behavior. We conclude by articulating several promising directions for future research that were suggested by our review.

Preferences, Identity, and Competition: Predicting Tie Strength from Demographic Data

This research examines the combined influence of three causal mechanisms shaping interpersonal dynamics. Sharing a demographic characteristic has been shown to strengthen a relationship between people. The initial explanation for this positive effect emphasized the importance of individual preferences for social contact. Similar people share common interests, which makes them more attractive as exchange partners. More recent explanations have highlighted the important role of identification and competition. Identification increases the tendency for strong ties to develop among similar people, while competition reduces that tendency. I argue that tie strength is a function of all three mechanisms: a baseline level of interpersonal attraction, a positive identification effect, and a negative competition adjustment. Identification and competition vary with the number of people sharing the focal attribute to define a predictable association between sharing the focal attribute and the strength of a network connection. Predictions are tested with tenure and tie-strength data from a small research and development firm. Analysis indicates that having the same tenure has the predicted effect on communication frequency. The implications of the findings are discussed for homophily research in particular and demography research in general.

Close Encounters: Analyzing How Social Similarity and Propinquity Contribute to Strong Network Connections

Models of network formation emphasize the importance of social similarity and propinquity in producing strong interpersonal connections. The positive effect each factor can have on tie strength has been documented across a number of studies, and yet we know surprisingly very little about how the two factors combine to produce strong ties. Being in close proximity could either amplify or dampen the positive effect that social similarity can have on tie strength. Data on tie strength among teachers working in five public schools were analyzed to shed light on this theoretical question. The empirical results indicate that teachers who were similar in age were more likely to be connected by a strong tie, especially teachers for whom age similarity was more likely to be salient. Moreover, teachers who took breaks at the same time or who had classrooms on the same floor communicated more frequently and felt more emotionally attached. Among the public school teachers, propinquity amplified the positive effect that age similarity had on tie strength. The strongest network connections occurred among age-similar teachers who had classrooms on the same floor. The empirical results illustrate the value of considering how social similarity and propinquity contribute to strong ties independently and when combined with each other.

Do you two know each other? Transitivity, homophily, and the need for (network) closure.

The authors investigate whether need for closure affects how people seek order in judging social relations. In Study 1, the authors find that people who have a high need for closure (NFC) were more likely to assume their social contacts were connected to each other (i.e., transitivity) when this was not the case. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors examine another form of order in network relations--racial homophily--and find that high-NFC participants were more inclined to believe that 2 individuals from the same racial category (e.g., African American) were friends than two racially dissimilar individuals. Furthermore, high-NFC individuals were more likely to make errors when judging a racially mixed group of people; specifically, they recalled more racial homophily (racially similar people sitting closer together) than had actually appeared.

Contradictory or compatible? reconsidering the “trade-off” between brokerage and closure on knowledge sharing

Knowledge sharing is a fundamental source of competitive advantage. Social networks are thought to play an important role in knowledge sharing, but are presumed to create a trade-off such that a network can be optimized to promote either knowledge seeking or knowledge transfer, but not both. The trade-off, however, is premised on, and representative of a broader tendency to treat, brokerage and closure as contradictory network forms. We challenge this assertion and propose a theory of knowledge sharing with brokerage and closure as compatible and complementary. Evidence from a contract research and development firm broadly supports our theory. We also report the results of a simulation analysis, which illustrate that only in the extremely rare case when a network is characterized by nearly complete balance do brokerage and closure begin to create a trade-off.

Differences in social difference: examining third party effects on relational stability

Abstract In this paper, I examine the effect that the difference in racial heritage between two actors has on the stability of their social tie. I assume that there is a negative association between cross-race relations and relational stability. I examine the extent to which this negative association is rooted in the interpersonal dynamics within the relation itself or in the pressures derived from third party actors associated with the focal actors. I find that race matters. Cross-race relations are more fragile than comparable same-race relations. However, I find that race matters most when a focal alter is a racial isolate in an individuals social network. I conclude that the negative association between cross-race relations and relational stability is rooted in dynamics around the relation with the racial isolate and not within the relation itself.