IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v51y2005i9p1374-1383.html

Preferences, Identity, and Competition: Predicting Tie Strength from Demographic Data

Author

Listed:
  • Ray Reagans

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-3890)

Abstract

This research examines the combined influence of three causal mechanisms shaping interpersonal dynamics. Sharing a demographic characteristic has been shown to strengthen a relationship between people. The initial explanation for this positive effect emphasized the importance of individual preferences for social contact. Similar people share common interests, which makes them more attractive as exchange partners. More recent explanations have highlighted the important role of identification and competition. Identification increases the tendency for strong ties to develop among similar people, while competition reduces that tendency. I argue that tie strength is a function of all three mechanisms: a baseline level of interpersonal attraction, a positive identification effect, and a negative competition adjustment. Identification and competition vary with the number of people sharing the focal attribute to define a predictable association between sharing the focal attribute and the strength of a network connection. Predictions are tested with tenure and tie-strength data from a small research and development firm. Analysis indicates that having the same tenure has the predicted effect on communication frequency. The implications of the findings are discussed for homophily research in particular and demography research in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray Reagans, 2005. "Preferences, Identity, and Competition: Predicting Tie Strength from Demographic Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(9), pages 1374-1383, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:51:y:2005:i:9:p:1374-1383
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1050.0389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0389
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0389?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Simpson, 2001. "The Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP)," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2001 1.2, Stata Users Group.
    2. K. R. Narayanan, 1954. "Freedom in Modern Society," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 10(4), pages 376-381, October.
    3. Christopher D. Zatzick & Marta M. Elvira & Lisa E. Cohen, 2003. "When is More Better? The Effects of Racial Composition on Voluntary Turnover," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(5), pages 483-496, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Minha Hwang & Bart J. Bronnenberg & Raphael Thomadsen, 2010. "An Empirical Analysis of Assortment Similarities Across U.S. Supermarkets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 858-879, 09-10.
    2. Marco Tortoriello & Ray Reagans & Bill McEvily, 2012. "Bridging the Knowledge Gap: The Influence of Strong Ties, Network Cohesion, and Network Range on the Transfer of Knowledge Between Organizational Units," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1024-1039, August.
    3. Autrey, Romana L. & Bauer, Tim D. & Jackson, Kevin E. & Klevsky, Elena, 2019. "Deploying “connectors”: A control to manage employee turnover intentions?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Zachary Neal, 2010. "Refining the Air Traffic Approach to City Networks," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(10), pages 2195-2215, September.
    5. Cao, Chunfang & Li, Xiaohui & Li, Xiaoyang & Zeng, Cheng & Zhou, Xuan, 2021. "Diversity and inclusion: Evidence from corporate inventors," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 295-316.
    6. Pudney, Stephen & Booker, Cara, 2013. "In sickness and in health? Comorbidity in older couples," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-30, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Illong Kwon & Eva Meyersson Milgrom, "undated". "Working for Female Managers: Gender Hierarchy in the Workplace," Discussion Papers 09-006, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    8. James R. Barth & Sunghoon Joo & Kang‐Bok Lee, 2022. "Bank–client cross‐ownership of bank stocks: A network analysis," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 280-312, June.
    9. Sergio Currarini & Matthew O. Jackson & Paolo Pin, 2009. "An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily, Minorities, and Segregation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1003-1045, July.
    10. Yonghan Ju & So Young Sohn, 2015. "Identifying patterns in rare earth element patents based on text and data mining," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 389-410, January.
    11. Weisenfeld, Ursula & Ott, Ingrid, 2009. "Self-selection, socialization, and risk perception: an empirical study," Kiel Working Papers 1555, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    12. Claire L. Adida & David D. Laitin & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2015. "Religious Homophily In A Secular Country: Evidence From A Voting Game In France," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 1187-1206, April.
    13. Elina H. Hwang & Param Vir Singh & Linda Argote, 2015. "Knowledge Sharing in Online Communities: Learning to Cross Geographic and Hierarchical Boundaries," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1593-1611, December.
    14. Shreya Biswas, 2016. "Promoter Homophily in Boards: Does it Really Matter? - An Analysis of Indian Firms," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 237-252.
    15. Jasjit Singh & Morten T. Hansen & Joel M. Podolny, 2010. "The World Is Not Small for Everyone: Inequity in Searching for Knowledge in Organizations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1415-1438, September.
    16. Jean-Paul Carvalho, 2015. "Sacrifice and Sorting in Clubs," Working Papers 151604, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    17. Sergio Currarini & Fernando Vega Redondo, 2010. "Search and Homophily in Social Networks," Working Papers 2010_24, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    18. Aram Min & Ji-Hyun Lee, 2019. "A Conceptual Framework for the Externalization of Ecological Wisdom: The Case of Traditional Korean Gardens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    19. Aida Sijamic Wahid, 2019. "The Effects and the Mechanisms of Board Gender Diversity: Evidence from Financial Manipulation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 705-725, October.
    20. Mariagiovanna Baccara & Leeat Yariv, 2013. "Homophily in Peer Groups," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 69-96, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:51:y:2005:i:9:p:1374-1383. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.