Characteristics of Social Networks and Employee Behavior and Performance: A Chinese Case Study of a State-Owned Enterprise

Based on the social networks at a Chinese state-owned enterprise, the authors examine the factors that are correlated with employee performance. They delineate two types of performance: task and contextual. The factors in their study are the characteristics of the four social networks (Job Advisory, Work Discussion, Friendship, and Email Networks) and the individual attributes (knowledge sharing behavior and IT capability). The network characteristics used in this study are the degree centrality and betweenness centrality. The authors find that 1) employee contextual performance is uncorrelated with the network characteristics; 2) it is significantly and positively correlated with knowledge sharing behavior, but significantly and negatively correlated with individual IT capability; and 3) task performance is correlated, both positively and negatively, with various network characteristics, but not with knowledge sharing behavior and individual IT capability. They discuss the cultural dimension of their results. The authors draw theoretical and managerial implications based on their research framework and findings.