The Connector's Paradox: Revisiting the Social Psychological Value of Connecting in Social Networks

• In Event: 3142 - Open Topics on Social Psychology I

Abstract

For years, many network theorists have argued that connecting people in one’s social network comes at a structural disadvantage: connecting closes holes in the social structure, which may lead to the emergence of dense and cohesive networks around ego, often associated with increased informational redundancy, reduced access to novel information, and a loss of control benefits. Instead of connecting, network theorists and business strategists often advise to network, which I define here as the building and developing of new ties by ego. Networking not only expands ego’s network; it may also diversify it. Unlike connecting, which closes structural holes around ego, networking can lead to the creation of new structural holes, resulting in immediate brokerage benefits. Here, I advance a social psychological critique of this structural de-emphasis of connecting in network theory, by suggesting that the structural payoff difference which networking might provide (compared to connecting) is offset by the social psychological rewards which connecting might provide (compared to networking): unlike networking, perceived by many as instrumentally motivated behavior which is carried out for personal gain, connecting might be seen as more authentic, cooperative, and communal behavior – resulting in the rewarding of higher social status. I propose that the social psychological rewards of connecting are causally linked to downstream structural benefits: connectors, due to being seen in a more positive light, will experience higher levels of direct, as well as indirect reciprocation by alters and observers. “The Connector’s Paradox” states that there is a hidden structural value in closing social structures: the withholding of immediate structural rewards by the connector comes to be associated with social psychological rewards which in turn might mediate the mid-to long-term structural payoffs which connectors will accrue. Paradoxically, the closing of local social structures might – over time – lead to their very opening. As such, the Connector’s Paradox might not only be a social mechanism through which cooperation in networks (i.e., connecting) becomes sustainable, and, ultimately, rational; it might also be key to understanding how social psychological and structural processes in networks dynamically interrelate.

Author

• Michael C Hahn, Stanford University