Status Differences in the Cognitive Activation of Social Networks

Edward Bishop Smith (), Tanya Menon () and Leigh Thompson ()
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Edward Bishop Smith: Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Tanya Menon: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Leigh Thompson: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208

Organization Science, 2012, vol. 23, issue 1, 67-82

Abstract: We develop a dynamic cognitive model of network activation and show that people at different status levels spontaneously activate, or call to mind, different subsections of their networks when faced with job threat. Using a multimethod approach (General Social Survey data and a laboratory experiment), we find that, under conditions of job threat, people with low status exhibit a winnowing response (i.e., activating smaller and tighter subsections of their networks), whereas people with high status exhibit a widening response (i.e., activating larger and less constrained subsections of their networks). We integrate traditional network theories with cognitive psychology, suggesting that cognitively activating social networks is a precondition to mobilizing them. One implication is that narrowing the network in response to threat might reduce low-status group members' access to new information, harming their chances of finding subsequent employment and exacerbating social inequality.

Keywords: labor markets; laboratory research; experimental designs; social networks; organization and management theory; psychological processes; organizational behavior; status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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