Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
9 - 10 November 2015, Shinjuku Washington Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-88-7
Individual Knowledge Structure and Collaborative Tie Formation:
Integrating Cognitive and Social Network Perspectives
Ziying Huang1 and Sze-Sze Wong2
While most of prior research has focused on the knowledge-related outcomes of network
relationships, we examine the potential reversed causality that heterogeneity in
individuals’ existing knowledge can predict subsequent formation of new ties. Integrating
cognitive and social network perspectives, we argue that individuals’ pre-existing
knowledge can influence their cognitive capacity to absorb from and transfer knowledge to
potential partners, thereby affecting the likelihood of an initial encounter to become a
successful collaboration. To test our theory, we collected longitudinal data on the coauthorship networks of 416 academic scholars in the Psychology discipline in two
decades. Unconditional negative binomial models were employed to analyze the panel
data. We found that knowledge breadth is positively associated with the amount of new
ties one forms, and that knowledge depth is curvilinearly related to the amount of new ties
one forms assuming an inverted U shape. The results suggest that people with adequate
knowledge stock are more apt to form new ties.
Our study offers interesting practical implications for scientists and research scholars.
Since new ties provide access to novel information that is critical to knowledge creation,
people are motivated to form new ties, but the amount of new ties one can actually
establish depends on individual ability to overcome the communication barriers and
uncertainties in knowledge exchange. Our findings reveal that adequate knowledge stock
is beneficial to the formation of new ties. To expand their collaborative networks, scientists
and research scholars should increase the breadth and depth of their knowledge stock.
However, while sufficient knowledge depth is essential, overly high level of knowledge
depth could become detrimental to the formation of new ties. Hence, scientists and
scholars should be aware of this double-edged sword effect and avoid concentrating all
their time and efforts on one or a limited few research subjects.
Field of Research: Management - Organizational Behavior
1
Ms Ziying Huang, Nangyang Business School, Nanyang Techonological University, Singapore. Email:
huan0177@e.ntu.edu.sg
2
Dr. Sze-Sze Wong, Nangyang Business School, Nanyang Techonological University, Singapore. Email:
aszewong@ntu.edu.sg