Description
Book SynopsisThere is a moral to this book, a bit of Confucian wisdom often ignored in social network analysis: Worry not that no one knows you, seek to be worth knowing. This advice is contrary to the usual social network emphasis on securing relations with well-connected people. Neighbor Networks examines the cases of analysts, bankers, and managers, and finds that rewards, in fact, do go to people with well-connected colleagues. Look around your organization. The individuals doing well tend to be affiliated with well-connected colleagues. However, the advantage obvious to the naked eye is misleading. It disappears when an individual''s own characteristics are held constant. Well-connected people do not have to affiliate with people who have nothing to offer. This book shows that affiliation with well-connected people adds stability but no advantage to a person''s own connections. Advantage is concentrated in people who are themselves well connected. This book is a trail of argument and evidence
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2011 Academy of Management's George R. Terry Book Award 'for outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge.'
Scholars interested in rigorous analytical approaches to social capital, social dynamics, or network phenomena will greatly enjoy Neighbor Networks. * Brian Rubineau, Industrial and Labor Relations Review *
The core contribution of Neighbor Networks is the rich detail devoted to explaining when it matters to be connected to well-connected others. Theoretically, the book explains how the social capital benefits accruing to individuals are largely the result of their immediate networks. Empirically, the book offers a bevy of evidence in support of these claims. The contribution also delineates the cases of closure in neighbour networks (and the effects of such closure on reputation and relationship development) and the benefits of having a strategic partner inside a neighbor network. This is a fine book of interest to graduate students and researchers across the social sciences. * Martin Kilduff and Blaine Landis, Administrative Science Quarterly *
Burt ... has an impressive ability to establish connections between "classical" theories and to show how they relate to network concepts. Would you expect a book about social networks to rely on references as varied as Weber, Veblen, Durkheim, Von Hayek, McClelland, and many others? Burt is not merely theorizing on brokerage across social groups; he is one of the brokers that are described in the book. A broker who spans structural holes across disciplines, questions theories and levels of analysis, and who combines all this in a theory of his own. * Barthélémy Chollet, M@n@gement *
Table of ContentsPART I: ESTABLISHING SECONDHAND BROKERAGE; PART II: TESTING THE PERIMETER; PART III: EXPLORING IMPLICATIONS
