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  • December 2020
  • Article
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Why Connect? Moral Consequences of Networking with a Promotion or Prevention Focus

By: F. Gino, T. Casciaro and M. Kouchaki
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Abstract

Networks are a key source of social capital for achieving goals in professional and personal settings. Yet, despite the clear benefits of having an extensive network, individuals often shy away from the opportunity to create new connections because engaging in instrumental networking can make them feel morally impure. In this paper, we explore how the motives people have when engaging in networking impact these feelings and, as a result, change how frequently they engage in networking and their job performance. Across a correlational survey study, a laboratory experiment (with samples from the United States and Italy), two online studies, an organizational network survey study, and a field experiment with professionals (total N = 2,522), we examine how self-regulatory focus, whether promotion or prevention, affects people’s experience of and outcomes from networking. We find that a promotion focus, as compared to a prevention focus or a control condition, is beneficial to professional networking as it lowers feelings of moral impurity from instrumental networking. As such, networking with a promotion focus increases the frequency of instrumental networking as compared to a control condition, while networking with a prevention focus decreases frequency of instrumental networking as compared to a control condition.

Keywords

Networking; Impurity; Morality; Motivation; Regulatory Focus; Networks; Attitudes; Moral Sensibility

Citation

Gino, F., T. Casciaro, and M. Kouchaki. "Why Connect? Moral Consequences of Networking with a Promotion or Prevention Focus." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 119, no. 6 (December 2020).
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About The Author

Francesca Gino

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century By: Francesca Gino, Bradely R. Staats and Anne Marie Green
  • You Need Two Leadership Gears: Know When to Take Charge and When to Get Out of the Way By: Lindy Greer, Francesca Gino and Robert Sutton
  • Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd
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