Mediaboss Marketing

By Dr. Stefano Tasselli, Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University and University of Exeter.

My popular colleagues are living on easy street. They talk to everyone, and everyone is nice to them. They are so privileged... If you have ever had thoughts like this, and wanted to do something about it, you are not alone. Many people think the grass is always greener on the other side, and that their coworkers have better, warmer, and more supportive professional networks. What does the science say about this intuition? Is it just a perception or there is any truth behind this thought?

Green grass

Our intuition: the grass is greener on the other side.

In the research that I recently published with Balint Neray and Alessandro Lomi, we combine two studies to provide scientific evidence to this intuition and discuss its implications. First, we found that central individuals in a network (i.e. individuals with a high number of connections with coworkers) are privileged not only because they have many connections, but also because they are connected, on average, to more supportive people. We also found that the professional network of our colleagues is, on average, better than our own network, such that we can affirm scientifically that, yes, the grass is greener on the other side.

Some theory behind it.

How did we come up with these results? How did we find scientific evidence to support this gut feeling? It all turns around a phenomenon that we observe: central people have a double source of advantage. First, they have many ties to others and so can gain easier access to knowledge and other resources. This is the classic argument used by network researchers to explain the benefits of centrality. Beyond that, however, there is a psychological explanation too.

We found that central people interact more frequently (than non-central people) with coworkers who are particularly high in a motivational attribute called by psychologists communal motivation. This attribute defines people who gain social acceptance in organizations by behaving in a pro-social, helpful and supportive way with individuals who have social resources (i.e. individuals who are more central) in workplace networks.

This discovery has two implications, one for the organizational life of network stars (aka, central individuals) and one for the organizational life of us all. First, we show that the advantage of central individuals is twofold: not only they have many ties to coworkers, but they are more connected to pro-social and supportive others. This is a confirmation of the rich get richer prediction: people who have many ties also benefit from having better ties. Second, this phenomenon implies an outcome of relevance to all of us: because central individuals are over-represented (compared to less central individuals) in our networks, our colleagues will have, on average, a more supportive network than our own.

Empirical evidence from two studies.

Combining two empirical studies conducted in medical organizations, we found evidence for this phenomenon. First, we surveyed the knowledge transfer network of 140 medical professionals (doctors, nurses, technicians and para-medicals) involved in the clinical unit of a European hospital. Through two surveys conducted nine months apart, we collected data and developed sophisticated simulation-based network models on tie formation to support our arguments. We replicated our findings through a second, randomized scenario-based study, in which we asked respondents with different degrees of communal motivation to express their networking preferences. Both studies converge in their findings.

What can companies and organizations learn from our research?

We have two suggestions for companies. First, we see plenty of talent programs within and across organizations. However, as we show, these talents tend to have already important advantages in organizations, both structural and psychological. Thus, we suggest that HR managers and bosses should give more attention and opportunities of empowerment to people who are not in the spotlight.

Second, despite overwhelming emphasis on ourselves as the self-made builders of our professional networks, we show that most of the network benefits that we enjoy (or we do not enjoy) depend not just on our actions, but also on psychological characteristics of our contacts. These play a fundamental role in shaping our network outcomes, and understanding who they are, how they think and how they behave, is a crucial need for researchers and practitioners. To simplify, the message of our work is: the personality of others matters because it affects directly what we can achieve. Hence, select these others with care.

What can employees and managers learn from our research?

Again, we have two suggestions. For individuals who are already central in organizational social networks, our findings can explain the psychological mechanisms behind the so call imposter syndrome. The persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills, can indeed be fueled by evidence that surrounding coworkers are a fundamental source of help, support and social capital. However, central individuals must reject this imposter syndromes vicious circle: having a network composed of others who are caring and supportive is indeed, as we show, not a byproduct of luck or randomness, but a peculiarity associated with the quality of ones networking.

Our research has also implications for people who do not occupy central positions in their companys network and, therefore, tend to have less supportive coworkers. Social networking, indeed, is not destiny. As shown by an increasing body of research, networking requires skills, experience and empathy. Social capital, in this sense, can be legitimately considered a correlate, and even a consequence, of human capital. People can be trained, and learn, to empower their networking skills, which in turn can help them reap the structural and psychological benefits of networking. Although this suggestion is sometimes rejected by managers and companies, we suggest that is a crucial way to boost ones chances to get ahead in the modern business environment.

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'My Colleagues Have A Better Network Than Me' - Forbes