The influence of social network and self-monitoring on career

Abstract

After decades of a solid presence of women in the workforce, the fact that men still overwhelmingly dominate the majority of top positions in the hierarchy of many organizations suggests that there is much more to be investigated. This study aims to explore individual differences (gender and self-monitoring) and social network patterns of professionals, in order to explain barriers on women striving to ascend to the top, since these factors have both been found to affect performance evaluation, promotions and career in organizations. The results showed that males in management positions displayed the same network pattern, whereas females had different networks patterns, depending on their self-monitoring. Furthermore, social network differences were enhanced regarding low self-monitor males and females. High self-monitors males in gender homophilic networks were the ones more related to higher positions in the organization's hierarchy. The contribution of these findings is discussed, with suggestions for future research. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]