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a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support

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Analysis<br />

CHAPTER FOUR:<br />

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS<br />

Unlike most <strong>social</strong> science research in which the individual level <strong>of</strong> <strong>analysis</strong> is examined,<br />

the level <strong>of</strong> <strong>analysis</strong> in this study is the dyad. Therefore, each variable is represented as a matrix<br />

in which rows and columns represent actors and cells represent a relational state between actors<br />

(Raider & Krackhardt, 2001: 68). The fact that the level <strong>of</strong> <strong>analysis</strong> in this study is the dyad<br />

requires special <strong>analysis</strong> techniques because dyadic relations are not independent <strong>of</strong> one another,<br />

as are observations in most <strong>social</strong> science research (Raider & Krackhardt, 2001). As a result,<br />

there may be high levels <strong>of</strong> autocorrelation among the error terms in regular statistical models <strong>of</strong><br />

this data. Accordingly, it is inappropriate to analyze data such as this using Ordinary Least<br />

Squares Regression, PLS or LISREL. Social networks researchers suggest utilization <strong>of</strong> a test<br />

that is robust against autocorrelation. Krackhardt (1988) suggests using Quadratic Assignment<br />

Procedure (QAP) regression to deal with autocorrelation problems associated with network data.<br />

QAP <strong>of</strong>fers permutation-based tests <strong>of</strong> significance which are more resistant to autocorrelation<br />

problems than are ordinary least-squares regression models 3 (Raider & Krackhardt, 2001).<br />

Therefore, data <strong>analysis</strong> was conducted using UCINET 6 for Windows, a network<br />

<strong>analysis</strong> program developed by Borgatti, Everett, and Freeman (2002). Quadratic assignment<br />

procedure correlation <strong>analysis</strong> was utilized to generate a bivariate correlation matrix and<br />

quadratic assignment procedure regression (QAP) will be used to test the hypotheses. QAP<br />

3 Currently there is some debate between Krackhardt and Wasserman regarding the extent to which QAP regression<br />

is resistant to autocorrelation problems (Butler; personal communication; Madhaven, personal communication).<br />

Wasserman advocates utilization <strong>of</strong> the p* model (Wasserman & Pattison, 1996). Somewhat like QAP, p* <strong>analysis</strong><br />

consists <strong>of</strong> “generating a set <strong>of</strong> predictor variables from a network and then employing logistic regression <strong>analysis</strong> to<br />

fit a series <strong>of</strong> nested models in which the response variable is the presence or absence <strong>of</strong> a tie between each pair <strong>of</strong><br />

actors” (Madhaven, Gnyawali, & He, 2004). I selected QAP regression for this study as it is more commonly<br />

utilized in the management literature at this time (e.g. Hinds, Carley, Krackhardt, & Wholey, 2000; Umphress et al.,<br />

2003).<br />

65

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