Social networks and the cognitive motivation to realize network opportunities: a study of managers' information gathering behaviors

Information gathering is central to a variety of organizational behavior theories, but researchers have suggested that our understanding of the actual information gathering behaviors of managers is underdeveloped. Social network characteristics are theorized to be a key determinant of information ga...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of organizational behavior Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 51 - 78
Main Author Anderson, Marc H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.2008
John Wiley & Sons
Wiley Periodicals Inc
Subjects
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive motivation
Electronic commerce
Individual differences
Information
Information gathering
Information management
Information relevance
Managers
Motivation
Motivation research
Need for cognition
Organizational behavior
Personality
Point/Counterpoint
Social capital
Social interaction
Social networking
Social networks
Social structures
Studies
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Summary:Information gathering is central to a variety of organizational behavior theories, but researchers have suggested that our understanding of the actual information gathering behaviors of managers is underdeveloped. Social network characteristics are theorized to be a key determinant of information gathering behaviors, but social network research has been criticized for: (1) not measuring the intervening mechanisms by which network characteristics are theorized to have their effects and (2) not considering how actors' motivation affects what network benefits are realized. This article addresses these concerns through an empirical study of the actual information gathering behaviors of managers. It posits that individual differences in a personality variable called need for cognition capture differences in actors' cognitive motivation to realize the potential information benefits that exist in their social networks. Results show that network characteristics do affect information benefits, but these effects are stronger for managers motivated to take advantage of them. These findings both support social capital theory and suggest the important role that personality can play in augmenting social network analyses.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-0X87LZW8-P
istex:3F70EF2493FCE4A3B0F668C4E19E2BEDAF5D2653
ArticleID:JOB459
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0894-3796
1099-1379
DOI:10.1002/job.459