When perceiving a coworker as creative affects social networks over time: A network theory of social capital perspective

Abstract

We conceptualize “perceived coworker creativity” as a resource that people seek to acquire through their relationships. Applying the Network Theory of Social Capital (NTSC), we examine whether perceiving a coworker as creative changes the closeness of the relationship an employee develops with this coworker and how being perceived as creative by others in the organization changes the weighted indegree centrality of this coworker in the organizational network over time. We also examine the role of gender and nationality similarity as moderators. We test our hypotheses in three studies: an experimental study of full-time employees, a longitudinal study of full-time employees over 8 weeks, and a longitudinal study of MBA students over 1 year. We find that employees tend to develop closer relationships over time with coworkers that they perceive as creative, and that this effect is generally stronger when these two individuals are of the opposite gender or different nationalities. Additionally, when more employees perceive a coworker as creative, it is more likely that this coworker will become more central in the network over time for those who belong to a minority group in terms of nationality.