Dormant Ties: The Value Of Reconnecting

Daniel Z. Levin (), Jorge Walter () and John Murnighan
Additional contact information
Daniel Z. Levin: Management and Global Business Department, Rutgers Business School--Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey 07102
Jorge Walter: Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy, School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052

Organization Science, 2011, vol. 22, issue 4, 923-939

Abstract: The social networks literature suggests that ties must be maintained to retain value. In contrast, we show that reconnecting dormant ties---former ties, now out of touch---can be extremely useful. Our research prompted Executive MBA students to consult their dormant contacts about an important work project; outcomes compared favorably to those of their current ties. In addition, reconnecting previously strong ties led to all of the four benefits that are usually associated with either weak ties (efficiency and novelty) or strong ties (trust and shared perspective). These findings suggest that dormant relationships---often overlooked or underutilized---can be a valuable source of knowledge and social capital.

Keywords: social capital; tie strength; knowledge transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0576 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:22:y:2011:i:4:p:923-939

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().