A network’s gender composition and communication pattern predict women’s leadership success

Abstract

Graduate programs increasingly place women directly into leadership positions. For men, centrality in the school-wide student network predicts job-rank placement. Women’s placement is also predicted by centrality and the presence of a distinctive inner circle of women in their network. The inner circle of high-placing women displays an unusual network duality: The network has cliquish ties among women, but each woman is connected to a separate set of third-party contacts. This dual connectivity of strong and weak ties appears to provide simultaneous access to gender-related tacit information important for women’s success as well as diverse job-market data needed for successful job search and negotiations.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 22, 2019
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.1721438116

Entities

People

  • Brian Uzzi
  • Nitesh Chawla
  • Yang Yang

Organizations

  • Northwestern University
  • United States Army Research Laboratory
  • University of Notre Dame

Tags

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.
  • STEM Education
  • Strategic Security Studies