走群众路线还是走领导路线？——工具性交往的理论构建、结构测量及对员工社会资本的影响机制研究

Social capital is privileged in organizational life, however, studies on the origins of social capital remain limited. Recent studies call an individualistic perspective back to social network research. Some pioneer studies focus on the micro-level antecedent of personality on the influence of social capital, e.g. self-monitoring, big five, etc. however, the linkage from personality to social capital is still long, without opening the black box in the middle. This paper takes a human agency perspective and theorizes that ego’s instrumental networking can shape social structure. To be specific, in working places, employees intentionally take instrumental interactions, e.g. networking with colleagues with diverse backgrounds or building intimacy with high-status leaders, to create new social capital. Based on grounded analysis, this study develops the two concepts of instrumental networking—horizontal networking and upward networking, and proposes a theoretical framework how these two kinds of instrumental networking affect the creation of social capital within organizations. In particular, upward networking is hypothesized to have an inverted U-shaped effect on social capital, while horizontal networking has a positive effect on social capital. Empirical studies follows to examine the validity of the concepts and theoretical framework with multiple quantitative methods. This study also extends to examine how horizontal networking and upward networking influence other organizational outcomes, e.g. creativity, job performance, etc., under the conditional effects of organizational culture..Overall, this paper makes contributions in the following ways. First, although structural determinism is well-regarded, human agency perspective has increasingly emerged in network studies. This paper echoes the call of human agency perspective to investigate the origins of social capital. The inductive analysis suggests that ego’s instrumental networking affects the benefit-cost calculus of alters which in turn influences alters’ willingness to contact with egos. Second, this paper identifies ego’s two types of instrumental networking style as a distinct mechanism shaping alters’ social attempt. Specially, the study shows alters will select egos using more horizontal networking, whereas upward networking is initially appreciated but may subsequently be overthrown for its potential ethical problems. Finally, by amassing interview data from various organizational settings in China, this paper makes an empirical contribution by extending the geographic reach of research on emerging economies and social capital. Earlier studies examining social capital have largely been limited to the Western context of open markets, free competition and individualistic orientation. Although a few pioneer studies suggest the constraining effects of culture on structural holes, the mechanism of how social capital origins in emerging economies with different cultural norms and market institutions remains largely unexplored.

从关系运作的角度探讨社会资本的来源和形成机制是社会网络研究发展的最新趋势。传统的社会网络研究大多探讨社会资本对各类组织行为的重要影响，而对社会资本来源的研究相对比较薄弱。少量的研究也多是关注人格特质对社会资本的直接影响，并未打开中间的影响机制黑箱。由于社会资本是嵌入在社会网络的资源，因此个体行动者的人格特质等因素都会通过工具性交往影响社会资本的建立。本课题按照“现象观察—理论梳理—扎根分析—概念及模型构建—定量分析—科学结论”的研究路线，基于扎根分析，开发“走群众路线”和“走领导路线”的量表，并探究工具性交往对社会资本的影响机制，在此基础上提出社会资本“构建效应”的理论框架。之后通过多种定量方法验证两种工具性交往对社会资本的影响，并在此基础上延伸和拓展分析工具性交往对其他工作结果的影响。针对以往工具性交往的研究缺乏情境化思考的理论局限，本项目还将深入分析工具性交往与组织文化之间的交互影响。

社会网络研究大多探讨社会资本的重要影响，对社会资本的前因研究关注不足。少有研究也多是关注人格特质对社会资本的直接影响，并未打开中间影响机制的黑箱。本项目从网络构建的视角出发，探讨工具性交往对社会网络的影响机制，以及对其他结果变量的影响。本项目共开展四个方面的研究：首先，工具性交往理论综述，总结工具性交往的概念内涵、前因、结果、作用机制与边界条件；在此基础上开发纵向交往的量表。其次，探究工具性交往对社会网络构建的影响机制。再次，探究工具性交往对其他结果变量的影响，丰富工具性交往效能机制的研究。第四，结合新冠疫情、中美贸易战、国家助力双创发展等重大事件，分析工具性交往在疫情、创新和创业情境下独特的内涵和效能机制。本研究共收集15个独立样本（包含多时点+多来源数据，疫情前后变化数据，来自美国和英国的数据），调研50位职业经理人+企业案例，收集微链平台创业企业与风险投资人数百万次的互动数据。基于问卷调查+案例+平台大数据分析，本项目的核心发现如下：（1）提出一个8题项、两维度的纵向交往行为量表。该量表具有良好的信度和效度，并且在控制了印象管理等变量后仍具有显著的解释力。（2）提出第三方评估时间，构建社会资本“构建效应”模型：第三方会观察到个体的交往行为，再在热情和能力两大维度上对个体进行评估，进而选择是否与个体交往，并将最终影响个体的社会网络结构。（3）员工过分走领导路线，会降低其他同事对其能力和热情的评价。走领导路线兼顾走群众路线，能帮助员工提升网络中心性。（4）新冠疫情爆发后，员工的纵向交往显著增加。情境性预防定向而非情境性促进定向，在新冠疫情和员工纵向交往之间具有中介作用。本项目的研究结论构建了一个完善的工具性交往理论框架，从宏观事件、微观动机和行为多个层面揭示工具性交往的概念内涵、行为表征及其效能机制，有效拓展了社会网络的前因和过程研究，助力了社会网络构建主义流派的发展。