BUILDING WEAK TIES.

ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL

MECHANISMS OF REFERRALS

EXCHANGE WITHIN BUSINESS

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Ivana Pais

University of Brescia

pais@jus.unibs.it

Aalborg, June 9th, 2009

SOCIAL NETWORK AND SOCIAL

CAPITAL

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APPROPRIABLE SOCIAL

ORGANISATIONS/

INTENTIONAL ORGANISATIONS

� Literature: social capital as a by-product of

activities initiated for other purposes. Coleman:

appropriable social organisations, multiplexity

� Today: emerging of “intentional organisations”

aimed at mobilising/creating social capital

directly pursuing business purposes

(employability of workers and competitiveness of

companies)

� new spaces of sociality, online and off line

BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORK3

MY RESEARCH: GOAL

Exploratory analysis of business social networks

aimed at examining:

1. the reasons that lead a professional to register in

a business social network,

2. the profile of such professionals,

3. the social mechanisms governing its functioning

4. the impacts on the professional performances of

its members.

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MY RESEARCH: METHOD

Case-study of three business social networks

� BNI Italia, referral organisation, set up in

California in 1985, 220 members in Italy

� Milan IN, non profit association set up in Milan

(Italy) in 2005 to allow members of LinkedIn to

meet each other, 5300 members

� Xing in Italy: online business social network, set

up in 2003 in Hamburg, 7 million of users

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MY RESEARCH: TECNIQUES

� Analysis of documentation and observation (September 2008 – May 2009)

� Online questionnaire:� BNI Italy, May 8th-15th 2009, 90 respondents out of

218 (41%)

� Milan IN, May 15th-22nd 2009, 1563 respondents out of 5386 (29%)

� Xing in Italy, still to be done

� Social network analysis of referral exchange between BNI members

� Experimentation on 3 chapter between October 2008 and March 2009

� In-dept interviews – still to be conducted 6

SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS:

EXAMPLE

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORKS:

FORM OF ORGANISATION

� Aims: enhancing already existing contacts, establishing new social relations

� Distintion from other organisation (entrepreneurial associations, trade unions, lobbies, service clubs…): no politics or religion

� Legal form� Xing public limited company

� BNI limited liability company

� Milan IN non profit organisation

� Activities

� Xing: online contacts via web-based platform

� Milan IN: weekly meeting + web-based platform

� BNI: weekly meeting in presence 8

NETWORKERS: FEATURES

� Self-selection based on shared rules and values not on ascribed characteristics:

� 80% males

� High educational level: 80% bachelor’s degree in Milan IN and 48% in BNI (in Italy 11,6%)

� Average age: 39 Milan IN, 46 BNI

� High mobility (55% changed job in the last 3 years); international mobility (57%)

� Entrepreneurs (57%) and self-employed (40%) in BNI, more employed (65%) in Milan IN

� Sectors: IT and telecom (27%), consultancy and services (19%) for Milan IN; building and real estate (19%), IT and telecom (14%) for BNI.

� Satisfied with their job: on average, 7 (scale 1-10) 9

PARTECIPATION IN BUSINESS

SOCIAL NETWORK

� Linked In registrations peaked in 2007 and

Milan In in 2008; BNI 60% of interviewed is

member since less than 1 year

� Sources: word-of-mouth

� Objectives when registering:

� LinkedIn: keeping in touch with colleagues, but also

finding a job;

� Milan IN: curiosity and exchange with colleagues,

updating;

� BNI: looking for new customers and updating.

� Information to company in BNI, not in Milan IN10

EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND

RESULTS: BNI

� BNI: they mainly pass (and receive) referrals to people with whom they have a good personal relationship; presence of “reciprocated exchange” in SNA

� Expectations are fulfilled on average, as far as business enlargement and updating is concerned; fewer people find customers than those who would like to do so, whereas more people achieve better results in terms of socialisation than those who were looking for contacts.

� Respondents who declared having acquired new customers via BNI total 40%, and they represent on average 20% of the respondent’s new customers.

� Satisfaction with BNI is on average 5.3 on a scale ranging from 1 to 10.

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EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND

RESULTS: MILAN IN

� 78% of respondents accept contacts in LinkedIn

even if they are unknown to them, primarily by

analysing their profile.

� Milan IN meetings: 44% choose according to the

topic dealt with, whereas a third of respondents

states that they participate every time they have

the chance to do so.

� Respondents declaring that they have not

achieved results are only 13% in LinkedIn,

whereas they total 39% in Milan IN. In both

cases, respondents are confident about future

prospects. Satisfaction: 6 (scale 1-10) 12

NEXT STEPS

� Short term:

� multivariate analysis and content analysis of the

answers to questions

� social network analysis of exchange of referrals in

BNI

� questionnaire to Xing Members

� Medium term:

� modelling of business networking strategies on and

off-line

� content analysis of online social network profile

� focus on professional group

� comparative analysis among different countries and

cultures13