IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v14y2003i2p123-136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Racial Homophily and Its Persistence in Newcomers' Social Networks

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly A. Mollica

    (Babcock Graduate School of Management, Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7659, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109)

  • Barbara Gray

    (Department of Management and Organization, Smeal College of Business Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802)

  • Linda K. Treviño

    (Department of Management and Organization, Smeal College of Business Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802)

Abstract

This study examined the formation and persistence of homophilous, or same-race, friendship ties among racial minorities and whites in a “newcomer” setting. Homophilous ties provide valuable sources of mutual support but may limit racial minorities' access to resources and information in organizations. Study participants were first-year MBA students who entered a program at the same time. We measured network ties at two times: six weeks after the beginning of the students' first semester in the program, and at the beginning of the following semester 3 1/2 months after the second survey. We also administered a separate survey measuring social identity salience prior to the first network survey.Despite the fact that there were fewer same-race ties for racial minorities to choose from, their friendship networks demonstrated greater homophily than those of whites early in the formation of the network and over time. Also, African-Americans were more likely than whites to seek out homophilous friendship ties in other class sections. Race as a salient social identity group membership was positively related to homophily for African-Americans, Hispanics, and whites. Over the time period studied there was no significant change in homophily among the racial groups' networks, despite the explicit promotion of diversity in recruitment of students, formation of heterogeneous classes and teams, and active support by the MBA program administrators. We discuss the practical implications of our findings for organizations that are attempting to increase cultural diversity and promote active interaction among individuals from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly A. Mollica & Barbara Gray & Linda K. Treviño, 2003. "Racial Homophily and Its Persistence in Newcomers' Social Networks," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 123-136, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:14:y:2003:i:2:p:123-136
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.14.2.123.14994
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.2.123.14994
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.14.2.123.14994?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. Erika Hayes James, 2000. "Race-Related Differences in Promotions and Support: Underlying Effects of Human and Social Capital," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 493-508, October.
    2. Kilduff, Martin, 1990. "The interpersonal structure of decision making: A social comparison approach to organizational choice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 270-288, December.
    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. Audrey J. Murrell & Stacy Blake-Beard & David M. Porter, 2021. "The Importance of Peer Mentoring, Identity Work and Holding Environments: A Study of African American Leadership Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Ossenkop, Carolin & Vinkenburg, Claartje J. & Jansen, Paul G.W. & Ghorashi, Halleh, 2015. "Ethnic identity positioning at work: Understanding professional career experiences," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 515-525.
    3. Elizabeth Eve Umphress & Giuseppe (Joe) Labianca & Daniel J. Brass & Edward (Eli) Kass & Lotte Scholten, 2003. "The Role of Instrumental and Expressive Social Ties in Employees' Perceptions of Organizational Justice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(6), pages 738-753, December.
    4. Mason, Malia F. & Dyer, Rebecca & Norton, Michael I., 2009. "Neural mechanisms of social influence," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 152-159, November.
    5. Bizzi, Lorenzo & Labban, Alice, 2019. "The double-edged impact of social media on online trading: Opportunities, threats, and recommendations for organizations," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 509-519.
    6. Xiong, Ailun & Li, Hongyi & Westlund, Hans & Pu, Yongjian, 2017. "Social networks, job satisfaction and job searching behavior in the Chinese labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-15.
    7. I Jones & C.M Nyland & M.G Pollitt, 2001. "How do Multinationals Build Social Capital? Evidence from South Africa," Working Papers wp220, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    8. Zagenczyk, Thomas J. & Scott, Kristin D. & Gibney, Ray & Murrell, Audrey J. & Thatcher, Jason Bennett, 2010. "Social influence and perceived organizational support: A social networks analysis," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 127-138, March.
    9. Costa, Sandra & Coyle-Shapiro, Jacqueline, 2021. "What happens to others matters! An intraindividual processual approach to coworkers’ psychological contract violations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109872, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Christopher C.A. Chan & Gary S. Monroe & Juliana Ng & Rebecca Chyi Woan Tan, 2008. "Effects of Employee Support on Junior Accountants' Job Attitudes and Intention to Quit," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(2), pages 149-162, June.
    11. George Wilson, 2012. "Women’s Mobility into Upper-Tier Occupations," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 639(1), pages 131-148, January.
    12. Saari Ahmad, 2012. "Crisis - Strategic Management in Public Relation," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 2(4), pages 173-193, October.
    13. Georgakakis, Dimitrios & Dauth, Tobias & Ruigrok, Winfried, 2016. "Too much of a good thing: Does international experience variety accelerate or delay executives’ career advancement?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 425-437.
    14. Neerja Kashive & Vandana Tandon Khanna, 2017. "Study of Early Recruitment Activities and Employer Brand Knowledge and Its Effect on Organization Attractiveness and Firm Performance," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(3_suppl), pages 172-190, June.
    15. van Hoorn, Andr, 2016. "How are migrant employees manages? An integrated analysis," Research Report 16001-GEM, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    16. Jyoti Joshi Pant & Vijaya Venkateswaran, 2023. "Voice of Intersectional Minorities in the Psychological Contract for Business Competitiveness," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 11-21, June.
    17. Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "A Tale of Parallel Processes of Gender (In-)Equality: How Big is the Glass Ceilings for Mena Women?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1062, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Paul M. Guest, 2016. "Executive Mobility and Minority Status," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 604-631, October.
    19. William T. Bielby, 2012. "Minority Vulnerability in Privileged Occupations," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 639(1), pages 13-32, January.
    20. Manuel Portugal Ferreira, 2008. "Networks for change: How networks influence organizational change," Working Papers 21, globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

    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:ororsc:v:14:y:2003:i:2:p:123-136. 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.