Paper Included in AOM Best Paper Proceedings

posted on Apr 10 2008

I am very happy to announce that our new paper will be included in the Best Paper Proceedings of the 2008 Academy of Management Meeting:

Dormant ties: The value of reconnecting

Daniel Z. Levin*, Jorge Walter**, & J. Keith Murnighan***

* Rutgers University, ** Portland State University, *** Northwestern University

The prevailing view of social network ties is that, if not continually maintained, they will wither and disappear, losing their value as social capital. In contrast, we propose that dormant ties—i.e., former ties in which two parties have lost touch—can be a particularly valuable source of knowledge. We predict that dormant ties that were once strong can combine the benefits of weak ties (novelty and efficiency) with the benefits of strong ties (solidarity and comprehension). Our results support all four parts of this prediction: prompting executives to consult their dormant contacts about an important work project led to extremely useful interactions. The findings highlight the value of dormant ties as an overlooked and often-untapped source of social capital.

Keywords: Social capital, weak ties, knowledge transfer