RESEARCH

Publications

• MORAL BEACONS: UNDERSTANDING MORAL CHARACTER AND MORAL INFLUENCE

With Erik Helzer, Taya Cohen, Yeonjeong Kim, and Brandy Aven

Published in Journal of Personality (2024) —  Link to article

We introduce the concept of moral beacons—individuals who are higher in moral character than their peers and prominent within their social environment—and examine the degree to which moral beacons increase the moral awareness of their peers. Using latent profile analysis (LPA) of data from personality questionnaires and social network surveys completed by graduate business students at two universities (N = 502), individuals classified as moral beacons received more nominations from their peers in end‐of‐class surveys as guides for moral thought and action. Using data from an in‐class exercise conducted in pairs, we find that moral beacons, relative to other students, positively impacted the moral awareness of their exercise counterparts in a discussion of a difficult business case about possible lead poisoning of employees (but did not significantly change their counterparts' moral awareness in a different case). Overall, these results provide promising initial evidence that moral beacons can be distinguished from their peers by both moral character and social prominence and can act as guides for others, at times encouraging greater consideration of the moral aspects of situations and decisions. As these results are the first of their kind, we encourage further replication and investigations of moral beacons and moral influence in other settings. 

• ORGANIZING FOR MISCONDUCT: A SOCIAL NETWORK LENS ON COLLECTIVE CORPORATE CORRUPTION

With Brandy Aven

Published in Research in Organizational Behavior (2023) — Link to article

Studying corporate misconduct requires understanding how individuals coordinate in illegal activities while maintaining secrecy. Drawing on social network theory and analysis, we develop a systematic framework to explain how social relationships and their structures, as well as individuals’ cognitive perceptions of those structures, affect how individuals engage in collective corporate corruption. We distinguish four levels of analysis—topological, relational, individual, and cognitive—and offer arguments and propositions at each level. Using this framework, we integrate and categorize past research at the intersection of social networks and misconduct. A recurring theme in our analysis is the important role of trust among corrupt organizational members. Finally, we discuss how embracing a network lens to study misconduct can not only address unanswered questions, but also stimulate new areas of research. 

• BROKERS IN DISGUISE: THE JOINT EFFECT OF ACTUAL BROKERAGE AND SOCIALLY PERCEIVED BROKERAGE ON NETWORK ADVANTAGE

Published in the Administrative Science Quarterly (2022) — Link to article

(Job Market Paper: Winner of "Best Ph.D. Paper Award" for the Behavioral Strategy track at the Strategic Management Society conference in Minneapolis)

Interpersonal networks can be conceptualized not only as actual social structures surrounding individuals but also as cognitive social structures stemming from individuals’ perceptions of those relationships. Yet most research on social networks adopts either a structural or a perceptual perspective. In this article, I blend these two traditions to examine how actual and perceptual brokerage jointly determine innovation performance. I hypothesize that while actual brokerage benefits individuals by exposing them to nonredundant information, socially perceived brokerage—being perceived to bridge groups regardless of one’s actual network configuration—may trigger skepticism of brokers’ motives that could hinder their ability to innovate. Thus I argue that others’ perceptions of a focal actor’s brokerage opportunities constitute a critical contingency underlying network advantage. Using a multimethod approach, including a field study in a global consulting firm and a preregistered experiment, I find that individuals spanning structural holes achieve higher innovation performance when their colleagues perceive them to have closed rather than open networks, and that trust is the underlying mechanism driving this effect. Integrating insights from cognitive social structures into structural holes theory, this study illustrates the importance of considering both structural and perceptual mechanisms in modeling how individuals reap the benefits of brokerage.

• THE VALLEY OF TRUST: THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL STRENGTH ON MONITORING QUALITY

With Brandy Aven and Lily Morse

Published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (special issue on "Behavioral Field Evidence on Ethics and Misconduct") (2021) — Link to article; summary of the article here

Effective monitoring of firms by regulatory agencies is essential to maintaining economic sustainability, correcting information asymmetry in markets, and mitigating social and environmental externalities. Yet, monitoring failures often arise where the monitoring agent fails to detect or report infractions by the firms they monitor. Whereas organizational scholars cite weak relationships and a lack of trust between firms and monitors as a key source of monitoring failures, research in organizational deviance contends that increased trust in strong relationships promotes monitoring failures via negligence and collusion. Drawing on these two literatures, we propose that relationship strength exhibits a U-shaped relationship with monitoring quality, as mediated by trust: increasing relationship strength reduces monitoring failures to a certain point, but beyond which it increases monitoring failures. We test our theory with three studies: a field study using longitudinal archival data on financial restatements, a survey of Certified Public Accountants, and an experimental audit simulation.

• HARVESTING VALUE FROM BROKERAGE: INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIC ORIENTATION, STRUCTURAL HOLES, AND PERFORMANCE

With Giuseppe "Beppe" Soda and Marco Tortoriello (all authors contributed equally)

Published in the Academy of Management Journal (2018) — Link to article

In this paper we explore the mechanisms underpinning returns to brokerage positions by considering the role of individuals' strategic orientation toward brokering. We conceptualize individuals' strategic orientations in terms of arbitraging versus collaborating behaviors enacted when occupying a brokerage position. Leveraging a novel dataset collected in a global consumer product company, we theorize and find evidence for the fact that arbitraging and collaborating orientations have differential effects on the relationship between brokerage and performance, significantly impacting on individuals' ability to extract value from brokerage. We discuss the implications of these findings for the structural analysis of informal networks in organizations. 

Papers under review

• SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE CONCLAVE (Title disguised to preserve the peer review process)

With Giuseppe "Beppe" Soda and Leonardo Rizzo

Stage: under review at Social Networks

Abstract removed to preserve the confidentiality of the peer-review process.

• INCENTIVES AND TIE EVOLUTION (Title disguised to preserve the peer review process)

With Giuseppe "Beppe" Soda and Brandy Aven

Stage: 2nd round review at SMJ

Abstract removed to preserve the confidentiality of the peer-review process.

• SOCIAL NETWORKS AND TURNOVER (Title disguised to preserve the peer review process)

With Shad Morris

Stage: 2nd round review at AMJ

Abstract removed to preserve the confidentiality of the peer-review process.

Working papers

• A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX: HOW A LOW TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY CAN LEAD TO SUCCESS IN DUAL-REPORTING JOBS VIA SOCIAL NETWORKS

With Giuseppe "Beppe" Soda and Manuel Gomez-Solorzano

Stage: In preparation for submission

We analyze how and why employees’ exposure to organizational formal structures characterized by high ambiguity relates to their workplace informal networks and job performance. Departing from prior research, which generally overlooks the role of individual differences in explaining heterogenous responses to organizational ambiguity, we focus on the need for cognitive closure as key dimension characterizing individuals' tolerance for ambiguity. We examine this question through the revelatory case of the matrix form—one of the quintessential sources of formal ambiguity arising from dual chains of command. We argue that matrix-based employees will exhibit local networks that are more open than do peers in more traditional forms with a single chain of command. Yet this association will only hold true for people with a low tolerance for ambiguity, that is, a high need for cognitive closure. Finally, we also show how such a tolerance for ambiguity is a key boundary condition underlying network advantage in formal settings characterized by high ambiguity, thus shedding light on the important role of dispositions in the interplay between formal and informal structures. Using a combination of field and experimental data, we find support for all predictions.

• AT FACE VALUE: FACIAL TRAITS, SOCIAL CAPITAL, AND INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

With Ekaterina Netchaeva and Giuseppe "Beppe" Soda

Stage: Writing stage

The prevalence of forming judgments based on facial features has led organizational researchers to investigate the broader performance implications of these impressions. Prior research, however, has revealed mixed findings on the relationship between facial traits and individual performance. We argue that renewed attention to the mechanisms linking these constructs can further scholarly understanding of the phenomenon. In this study, embracing a social network perspective, we extend theory on social attribution from faces by proposing a novel relational mechanism that sheds light on whether and how perceived looks matter for how employees perform in the workplace. In a multimethod study combining field and preregistered experimental data, we provide suggestive evidence that facial attributes of trustworthiness, dominance, and attractiveness predict actual individuals’ prominence within informal interpersonal networks, as indicated by changes in centrality scores across instrumental and affective relationships. Furthermore, we find that such network positions positively predict performance, thus showing how social capital may channel the effect of facial attributions on individual performance. These findings not only provide insights into the mechanisms linking physical appearance to individual performance, but also integrate networking behavior and social judgment research, while highlighting the importance of distinguishing between different types of interpersonal relationships.