Sunbelt XXXI International Network for Social Network ... - INSNA

Peer Influence On Smoking Initiation And Cessation Among AdolescentsSchaefer, David R.; Haas, Steven A.; Kornienko, Olga; Bishop, NicholasAdolescent Friendship NetworksAdolescents, Selection And Influence, Smoking, Siena, Peer Influence, HealthTHURS.AM2We use a stochastic actor‐based (SAB) model to investigate the processes by which social networks and smoking are related among US adolescents. Priorresearch has documented that smoking is a salient dimension of friendship selection and that adolescents influence one another’s smoking behavior. Unlikemany of the behaviors investigated with the SAB approach, smoking is physically addictive. Thus, adolescents may have difficulty quitting smoking, even iftheir friends do not smoke. Accordingly, we differentiate between peer influence on smoking initiation versus smoking cessation. We use data from theNational Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a series of SIENA models to test the different forms of peer influence. Results indicate that adolescentsare more influential for smoking initiation than for smoking cessation.Perceived Job Characteristics As Antecedents Of Intra‐organizational Networks: A Case‐study In A German SmeRank, Olaf N.; Brennecke, JuliaOrganizational NetworksERGM/P*, Perception, Intra‐organizational Networks, Organizational Behavior, Job CharacteristicsSAT.PM1In the present study, we investigate behavioral antecedents of instrumental and affective intra‐organizational collaborative networks. Specifically, we areinterested in how the creation of network ties is affected by the way employees perceive their jobs on a number of dimensions. Applying the JobCharacteristics Inventory proposed by Sims, Szilagyi, and Keller (1976) we analyze how employees’ perceptions of variety, autonomy, task identity, feedback,dealing with others, and friendship opportunities shape the structural patterns of intra‐organizational interactions. Data were collected in a German mediumsizedenterprise employing about 100 individuals. We analyze the effects of job characteristics on the structural patterns of collaborative networks by applyinga class of bivariate exponential random graph models (ERGMs). We find that employees’ embeddedness in information and advice networks is influenced bythe way they perceive different aspects of their jobs. More specifically, the individual job characteristics differently affect instrumental (i.e., information) andaffective (i.e., advice) ties. For example, while perceived autonomy determines an individual’s activity within the information network there is no such effectwithin the advice network. Our study contributes to research on organizational behavior and intra‐organizational networks firstly by emphasizing the influenceof individual‐level perceptions on network behavior and secondly by distinguishing these influences with respect to instrumental and affective relationships.