Elsevier

Social Networks

Volume 68, January 2022, Pages 179-194
Social Networks

Let it go or let it grow? – Personal network development and the mobilization of intra-organizational social capital

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2021.06.002Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Longitudinal study on three waves of personal network data in nine organizations.

  • Newcomers mobilized about 20 % of potential network resources at each wave.

  • Change in network composition predicts increase in social capital mobilization.

  • Socio-emotional integration increases where alters are replaced, rather than added.

  • Findings suggest differences between newcomers based on gender.

Abstract

We investigate how differences in personal network development affect the mobilization of social capital for new organizational members. Analyzing three waves of panel data reported by 24 newcomers in nine organizations, we ask whether the kind and volume of resources derived by focal actors depends rather on changes in the composition or in the size of their intra-organizational networks. We find that change in network composition predicts an increase in social capital mobilization over time. Network growth is found to reduce the affective resources that newcomers mobilize. Implications for subsequent research and organizational socialization practices are discussed.

Keywords

Personal networks
Network development
Social capital
Network resources
Newcomer socialization
Life course transitions

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