|
Makale Özeti:
|
Problem: Do weak ties matter? This question has been attempted to answer, since Granovetter
has first argued the importance of weak ties. Literature has contradictory findings with supporting and
rejecting Granovetter’s arguments, which requires further attention.
Research Objectives: The initial objective of this study is to resolve this conflicting debate by
attempting to answer the question whether weak ties provide benefits to individuals. Another
objective is to show the importance of several contingency factors in weak ties-outcomes relationship.
These factors include the context of weak tie usage, type of work conditions, hierarchical position,
and type of outcomes.
Method: This paper uses a meta-analysis methodology, which is a technique to quantitatively
review the literature on a given research area, to test the hypotheses.
Findings and Results: Based on 15 samples (N = 3657), we confirmed that Granovetter is
actually right (weak ties provide positive outcomes). Contingency analysis shows that people (1) who
use weak ties towards searching jobs, (2) who are working at low levels in organizational hierarchy,
and (3) who are seeking status outcomes, have greater positive benefits out of their weak ties, while
the analysis for information intensity is inconclusive.
Recommendations: Rather than examining whether weak ties matter, which is achieved in this
paper, future research should focus on underlying mechanisms regarding why and how weak ties
provide benefits to the people who hold it. Researchers may also focus on the contingency factors
which affect weak ties-outcomes relationship as well as different contexts which might change the
benefits of weak ties.
|