Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods & Analysis
2025-2026 Special Event
Social Network Analysis in the Organizational Sciences
Dr. Jessica Methot
Monday, September 29 | 2:00 PM EDT
Abstract
A social network is a set of actors (e.g., person, team, firm) and the ties connecting them (e.g., relationship, exchange, or interaction). These ties serve as conduits through which resources such as information flow; they also serve as prisms through which to make inferences and shape perceptions. Social network analysis (SNA) is the use of graph-theoretic and matrix algebraic techniques to study the social structure and strategic positions of actors in social networks. As a methodological tool, SNA allows scholars to visualize and analyze webs of ties to identify their origins and dynamics and link these structures to actors’ attitudes and behaviors. In this session, we will discuss (1) how to define the boundaries of a social network, (2) approaches (and challenges) to collecting network data, (3) metrics that can be derived from network data, (4) linking network data and theory, and (5) research questions to which social network analysis can be applied. A major appeal of network analysis is the distinctive lens it offers to examine a range of organizational phenomena at different levels; so, this session may be of interest to scholars studying topics such as trust, leadership, human capital, mentoring, DE&I, groups and teams, communication, work-nonwork interface, newcomer socialization, emotions, and employee well-being.
Dr. Jessica Methot
Biography
Dr. Jessica Methot is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University and a Distinguished Research Professor of Management at the University of Exeter Business School. She conducts research at the intersection of interpersonal workplace relationships and social network dynamics, including how formal HR practices transform informal social networks, the functional and dysfunctional consequences of workplace relationships, and their temporal and multidimensional features. Her research in these areas has been published in leading academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, and Journal of Organizational Behavior and has been featured in over 300 popular media outlets including Harvard Business Review, NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Nasdaq, CNN Money, USA Today, Fast Company, and NY Times Magazine.
Dr. Methot is an Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Review and former Associate Editor at Personnel Psychology and has served on the Editorial Review Boards of the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Discoveries, and Human Resource Management. She is the Graduate Director for the Rutgers IRHR PhD Program and serves as a board member for the Center for Women and Work (CWW). She served for six years on the executive committee of the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management, and she is co-founder of the website WorkTies.org, a cultivated repository for academic research and news on work relationships.
