The social network structure and social exchange of inter-personal help in co-acting work groups

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis develops a theory about the social network structure of helping and other Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) and provides the results of an empirical study which tested several predictions derived from the theory by focussing on the exchange of inter-personal helping behaviours; among the members of work groups in a telecommunications company. Two models describe how social network structure creates a social context in which the performance of OCB is embedded. One model suggests that different kinds of relationships create two role systems in an organization: (1) A system of instrumental roles in which individuals experience work interdependencies and view each other as organizational members, and (2) a system of expressive roles in which individuals take part in an organizational community and view each other as friends. Consistent with the argument that these role systems create a social identity context for different kinds of exchange behaviour, the empirical study found that network structures which defined instrumental roles predicted OCBs which benefit the organization, while network structures which defined expressive roles predicted OCBs which benefit other individuals. A second model proposes that position and involvement in social networks create a context in which the social exchange of helping behaviour is simultaneously enabled and constrained. The theory identifies and describes several social exchange and social influence processes that underlie opportunity for and constraint on helping behaviour. An empirical investigation of helping behaviour provides evidence that individuals perform helping behaviours more frequently if they occupied a prominent position in the social network of the group and if they were involved extensively in intimate or cohesive relations. Furthermore, the study showed that patterns of reciprocating help mediated the relationship between network position and involvement on the one hand, and helping behaviour on the other. Individuals who performed more helping behaviours maintained balance in their exchanges of help towards other individuals in the group and overall towards the group as a whole. These results show that helping behaviours involve both, role making and social exchange processes, and that the social exchange processes combine status dynamics with communal and equality principles of exchange.Ph.D

The impact of government's coercive power on the perceived legitimacy of Canadian post-secondary institutions

Governments regulate and control organizations, yet their role in determining organizational legitimacy is largely unexamined. In the changing Canadian post-secondary landscape, legitimacy is an increasingly important issue for post-secondary institutions as they compete amongst themselves for access to ever-shrinking resources. Using an institutional theory framework, we analyze two examples of government policy and legislation relating to the organizational legitimacy of Canadian post-secondary institutions. Based on this analysis, we suggest a more nuanced understanding of the effects of government’s coercive power on organizational legitimacy.  Bien que les gouvernements contrôlent et réglementent les organisations, leur rôle quant à la légitimité de celles-ci est très rarement étudié. Dans le contexte variable de l’éducation post-secondaire au Canada, la question de la légitimité revêt une importance grandissante pour les institutions post-secondaires, puisqu’elles rivalisent entre elles pour l’obtention de ressources en diminution constante. En utilisant le cadre de la théorie institutionnaliste, nous analysons deux exemples de politiques et de législations gouvernementales en rapport avec la légitimité organisationnelle des institutions post-secondaires au Canada. En fonction de cette analyse, nous suggérons une compréhension plus nuancée des effets du pouvoir coercitif du gouvernement sur la légitimité organisationnelle

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