Connecting otherwise disconnected individuals and groups—spanning structural holes—can earn social network brokers faster promotions, higher remuneration, and enhanced creativity. Organizations also benefit through improved communication and coordination from these connections between knowledge silos. Neglected in prior research, however, has been theory and evidence concerning the psychological costs to individuals of engaging in brokering activities. We build new theory concerning the extent to which keeping people separated (i.e., tertius separans brokering) relative to bringing people together (i.e., tertius iungens brokering) results in burnout and in abusive behavior toward coworkers. Engagement in tertius separans brokering, relative to tertius iungens brokering, we suggest, burdens people with onerous demands while limiting access to resources necessary to recover. Across three studies, we find that tertius separans leads to abusive behavior of others, mediated by an increased experience of burnout on the part of the broker. First, we conducted a five-month field study of burnout and abusive behavior, with brokering assessed via email exchanges among 1,536 university employees in South America. Second, we examined time-separated data on self-reported brokering behaviors, burnout, and coworker abuse among 242 employees of U.S. organizations. Third, we experimentally investigated the effects of the two types of brokering behaviors on burnout and abusive behavior for 273 employed adults. The results across three studies showed that tertius separans brokering puts the broker at an increased risk of burnout and subsequent abusive behavior toward others in the workplace.
Academy of Management's Best Symposium Award, OMT Division (Winner), MOC Division (Finalist)
Andreas Al-Laham Best Paper Award, EGOS Organizational Networks Group (Winner)
Social networks involve ties (and their absence) between people in social settings such as organizations. Yet much social network research, given its roots in sociology, ignores the individuality of people in emphasizing the constraints of the structural positions that people occupy. A recent movement to bring people back into social network research draws on the rich history of social psychological research to show that (a) personality (i.e., self-monitoring) is key to understanding individuals’ occupation of social network positions, (b) individuals’ perceptions of social networks relate to important outcomes, and (c) relational energy is transmitted through social network connections. Research at different levels of analysis includes the network around the individual (the ego network), dyadic ties, triadic structures, and whole networks of interacting individuals. We call for future research concerning personality and structure, social network change, perceptions of networks, and cross-cultural differences in how social network connections are understood.
Forming new relationships, particularly with those who have power and status, provides many professional benefits. However, individuals are often reluctant to engage in such behaviors or are ineffective in doing so. In this paper, we take an interpersonal perspective to specify a psychological barrier that people experience in the context of professional networking. We introduce the concept of rejection sensitivity based on organizational rank and test our hypotheses in four studies. Study 1 established the concept of rank-based rejection sensitivity, showing that people experience a significantly higher level of rejection sensitivity when networking with a higher than lower rank target. Studies 2 and 3 identified that the salience of power, not status, underlies rank-based rejection sensitivity. Study 4 introduced an intervention strategy to reduce networkers’ experience of rejection sensitivity when networking upwards. This paper not only contributes to the literature of rejection sensitivity and professional networking, but also provides concrete advice to professionals on how to reduce psychological barriers when seeking to form new ties.
Academy of Management's Best Paper Award, MOC Division (Winner)
Top-10 Most Innovative Papers Designated by the MOC Division
When employees collaborate across silos, there are numerous benefits for organizations. But the employees who do this critical work — also known as boundary spanners or network brokers — may end up overwhelmed, burned out, and can even develop abusive behavior toward their fellow employees. Research shows why this can happen, and suggests three key strategies companies can use to mitigate any negative effects: strategically integrating cross-silo collaboration into formal roles, providing adequate resources, and developing check-in mechanisms and opportunities to disengage.