Social networks, personal values, and creativity: evidence for curvilinear and interaction effects.

Taking an interactional perspective on creativity, the authors examined the influence of social networks and conformity value on employees' creativity. They theorized and found a curvilinear relationship between number of weak ties and creativity such that employees exhibited greater creativity when their number of weak ties was at intermediate levels rather than at lower or higher levels. In addition, employees' conformity value moderated the curvilinear relationship between number of weak ties and creativity such that employees exhibited greater creativity at intermediate levels of number of weak ties when conformity was low than when it was high. A proper match between personal values and network ties is critical for understanding creativity.

Network analysis in the social sciences.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of interest in network research across the physical and social sciences. For social scientists, the theory of networks has been a gold mine, yielding explanations for social phenomena in a wide variety of disciplines from psychology to economics. Here, we review the kinds of things that social scientists have tried to explain using social network analysis and provide a nutshell description of the basic assumptions, goals, and explanatory mechanisms prevalent in the field. We hope to contribute to a dialogue among researchers from across the physical and social sciences who share a common interest in understanding the antecedents and consequences of network phenomena.

Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression.

This study focuses on factors that contribute to abusive supervision, one form of nonphysical aggression, and the results of such abuse on subordinates and their family members. Using a "kick the dog" metaphor (As Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, and Miller (2000) state, this is a "commonly used anecdote to illustrate displaced aggression. . .a man is berated by his boss but does not retaliate because he fears losing his job. Hours later, when he arrives home to the greeting barks of his dog he responds by kicking it," p. 670), the authors investigated whether abusive supervision may be the result of a supervisor's displeasure with his or her organization. Using a sample of 210 supervisors, their subordinates, and the subordinates' family members or partners, the authors hypothesized that supervisors' reports of psychological contract violations, moderated by hostile attribution bias, would be associated with subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. In turn, the authors hypothesized that abused subordinates' family members would report sustained negative affect and negative evaluations directed toward them in the home. The hypotheses were supported.

Relational correlates of interpersonal citizenship behavior: a social network perspective.

This study examines the role of social network ties in the performance and receipt of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB), one form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A field study involving 141 employees of a manufacturing firm provided evidence that social network ties are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. Results support hypothesized relationships, which are based on social exchange theory, suggesting strength of friendship is related to performance and receipt of ICB. Support was also found for impression management-based hypotheses suggesting that asymmetric influence and 3rd-party influence are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. These relationships were significant when controlling for job satisfaction, commitment, procedural justice, hierarchical level, demographic similarity, and job similarity. Implications and directions for future research are addressed.