Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Journal of Organization Design

Designing Social Networks: Joint Tasks and the Formation of Network Ties

By: Sharique Hasan and Rembrand Koning
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Can managers influence the formation of organizational networks? In this article, we evaluate the effect of joint tasks on the creation of network ties with data from a novel field experiment with 112 aspiring entrepreneurs. During the study, we randomized individuals to a set of 15 joint tasks varying in duration (week-long teams to 20-minute conversations). We then evaluated the impact of these interactions on the formation and structure of individuals’ social networks. We find strong evidence that these designed interactions led to the systematic creation of new friendship and advice relations as well as changes to the participants’ network centrality. Overall, network ties formed after a randomized interaction account for about one-third the individuals a participant knows, of their friendships, and their advice relations. Nevertheless, roughly 90% of randomized interactions never become social ties of friendship or advice. A key result from our research is that while joint tasks may serve to structure the social consideration set of possible connections, individual preferences strongly shape the structure of networks. As a consequence, there will likely remain a considerable unpredictability in the presence of specific ties even when they are designed.

Keywords

Accelerators; Entrepreneur; Organizations; Networks; Design; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology Industry; India

Citation

Hasan, Sharique, and Rembrand Koning. "Designing Social Networks: Joint Tasks and the Formation of Network Ties." Art. 4. Journal of Organization Design 9 (2020).
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Rembrand M. Koning

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • April 2021
    • Faculty Research

    VIA Science (C)

    By: Juan Alcacer, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman
    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    CashDrop (B1)

    By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick
    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    CashDrop (B2)

    By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick
More from the Authors
  • VIA Science (C) By: Juan Alcacer, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman
  • CashDrop (B1) By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick
  • CashDrop (B2) By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College