Publications

SSRN

2012
Chapter

Problem Solving and Search in Networks

By: David Lazer and Ethan Bernstein

This chapter examines the role that networks play in facilitating or inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different... View Details

Keywords: Network Organizations; Search; Problem Solving; Individual; Individuals And Teams; Collective; Cognitive Search; Network Search; Search Typology; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Theory; Knowledge Sharing

November–December 2012
Article

Toward a Theory of Extended Contact: The Incentives and Opportunities for Bridging Across Network Communities

By: Maxim Sytch, Adam Tatarynowicz and Ranjay Gulati

This study investigates the determinants of bridging ties within networks of interconnected firms. Bridging ties are defined as nonredundant connections between firms located in different network communities. We highlight how firms can enter into these relationships... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Opportunities

November 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Activity-Based Management at W.S. Industries (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen

W.S. Industries undertakes the design and implementation of an activity based costing (ABC) system, and the ABC information empowers workers to make process improvement decisions. Workers' incentive pay is tied to cost savings from process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Energy Industry; India

Educators

2007
Working Paper

Diasporas and Domestic Entrepreneurs: Evidence from the Indian Software Industry

By: Ramana Nanda and Tarun Khanna

This study explores the importance of cross-border social networks for entrepreneurs in developing countries by examining ties between the Indian expatriate community and local entrepreneurs in India's software industry. We find that local entrepreneurs who have... View Details

Keywords: Diasporas; Developing Countries and Economies; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Social and Collaborative Networks; Technology Industry; India

April 2009
Case

Young Presidents' Organization

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, John D. Macomber and David Chen

The board of Young Presidents' Organization needs to decide on the future of its Networks Initiative, designed to connect its geographically dispersed membership base through 60 different interest-based networks. So far, one half of these networks have been considered... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

Research Summary

On the Origins of Brokerage in Intraorganizational Networks

While we have ample empirical evidence linking brokerage in intraorganizational social networks to both individual and firm-level benefits, we know little about its origins. Prior research describes correlations between rough demographic categories and network... View Details

May 2023
Article

Political Ideology and International Capital Allocation

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Mancy Luo, Larissa Schäfer and Margarita Tsoutsoura

Does investors' political ideology shape international capital allocation? We provide evidence from two settings—syndicated corporate loans and equity mutual funds—to show ideological alignment with foreign governments affects the cross-border capital allocation by... View Details

Keywords: Capital Flows; Syndicated Loans; Mutual Funds; Partisanship; Polarization; Elections; Political Ideology; Banks and Banking; Institutional Investing; Behavioral Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions

Research Summary

Dynamics of Network Formation

By: Ranjay Gulati

An ongoing research project with my doctoral students extends my previous line of inquiry by examining some of the evolutionary dynamics of small-world networks. Diverging from recent research that has analyzed static small worlds, we have adopted a dynamic view of the... View Details

December 1, 2022
Article

Which Connections Really Help You Find a Job?

By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Karthik Rajkumar, Guillaume Saint-Jacques, Erik Brynjolfsson and Sinan Aral

Experiments involving 20 million people generated a surprising finding: moderately weak connects — and not strong connections — are the most useful in finding a new job. To be more specific, the ties that are most helpful for finding new jobs tend to be moderately... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Job Search

Register to Read

July 2012
Article

Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition and Affect-Based Trust in Creative Collaboration

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris and Shira Mor

We propose that managers' awareness of their own and others' cultural assumptions (cultural metacognition) enables them to develop affect-based trust in their relationships with people from different cultures, enabling creative collaboration. Study 1, a multi-rater... View Details

Keywords: Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Relationships; Trust; Social and Collaborative Networks; Creativity

September 2015 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Gap Inc.: Refashioning Performance Management

By: Joshua Margolis, Paul McKinnon and Michael Norris

In 2014, clothing retailer Gap Inc. rolled out a new performance management process for headquarters staff that did away with a traditional rating and ranking system. The new process involved informal monthly meetings between managers and their reports, and it more... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Retail; HR; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Management; Human Resources; Performance Evaluation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

Educators

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Right Connections

chief scientific officer, in particular — aren't really the deciding factors for investment bankers," Higgins explains. "It's these executives' professional ties and company connections, their access to information and resources... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

2011
Article

How Do Networks Matter? The Performance Effects of Interorganizational Networks

By: Ranjay Gulati, D. Lavie and Ravi Madhavin

A growing body of research suggests that an organization's ties to other organizations furnish resources that bestow various benefits. Scholars have proposed different perspectives on how such networks of ties shape organizational behavior and performance outcomes, but... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Organizational Design; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research; Perspective; Value

March 2013
Module Note

Leading by Leveraging Workers' Occupational Identities

By: Michel Anteby

This note helps instructors teach about the role of occupational identities in driving efforts and action. It ties together several cases and an exercise that can be taught in leadership/organizational behavior/human resources classes. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Work; Occupations; Leadership; Identity; Jobs and Positions

Research Summary

A major area of Professor Torfason's research is the behavior of individual social network structures. He studies the violation of norms – specifically the use of excessive force in conflict situations – within the empirical context of a large online... View Details

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Article

Turnkey or Tailored? Relational Pluralism, Institutional Complexity, and the Organizational Adoption of More or Less Customized Practices

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

We examine how the organizational adoption of new practices is influenced by relational pluralism, i.e., an organization's multiple ties to actors inside and outside its industry. We theorize that institutional mechanisms of practice diffusion underlying relational... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Processes; Adoption; Customization and Personalization