Rewiring the Organizational Network: Corporate Offsites and Network Tie Formation
52 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2020 Last revised: 16 Feb 2024
Date Written: February 15, 2024
Abstract
Social networks are integral to the performance of collaborative work, but research on network change has shed little light on the mechanisms firms use to stimulate collaborative network ties among their employees. In this study, we examine the effects of corporate offsites on the evolution of social networks within an organization. We find that offsites lead to rewiring of intraorganizational networks, but with a surprising asymmetry: they stimulate everyone to initiate more collaboration ties, but only those who attend the offsite receive more collaboration ties. These results are consistent with a conceptualization of offsites as direct interventions that stimulate interactions for those who attend, but also as indirect interventions that signal the value of collaboration to everyone, even those who do not attend.
Keywords: Social Networks, Organization Design, Tie Formation, Network Evolution, Collaboration
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