Title:Social Network Perspectives in Organizational Research: Past, Present and Future
Presenter:Prof. Ning Li,The University of Iowa
Host:Kai Zhao
Time:2018.1.10 14:00-16:00
Location:A618
Abstract:Over the past decade, social network research has been a powerful tool to understand important organizational phenomena spanning different research areas, such as leadership (Carter, DeChurch, Braun, & Contractor, 2015), teamwork (Li, Zhao, Walter, Zhang,& Yu, 2015), creativity and innovation (Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003), career (Seibert, Kraimer, & Liden, 2001), power and influence (Ibarra & Andrews, 1993). A social network approach allows organizational scholars to capture the complex and dynamic interactions among individuals in the workplace and gain a finer grained understanding of the phenomenon of interest. Moving forward, with the fast development of information technology, modern technologies have transformed the way employees work in contemporary organizations. As a result, organizations are increasingly using digital collaboration platforms to encourage more efficient collaborations among employees. Therefore, social network analysis is also a powerful tool in understanding employee behaviors in the digital era. In this presentation, I will synthesize various applications of social network analysis in organizational research in the past and discuss promising future directions of social network research such as digital collaboration, network change, and big data.
About the presenter:Ning Li is an Associate Professor with tenure and Pioneer Research Fellow in the Department of Management and Organizations at The University of Iowa. Prior joining the University of Iowa, he received a bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in management and received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M
University. His current research interests include big data in management, team collaboration, social network analysis, team leadership, citizenship behaviors, and proactive phenomena in organizations. His work appeals in many top-tier management and psychology journals as theAcademy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management,and Harvard Business Review. His work has been reported by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Business News Daily, Yahoo, and INC. Over the past several years, he has been invited to give research presentations by many top research universities. In 2015, he received Early Career Research Award from Tippie College of Business, the University of Iowa. He is currently an editorial board member atJournal of Applied PsychologyandJournal of Organizational behavior.
