BRINGING THE INDIVIDUAL BACK IN - A STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF THE INTERNAL MARKET FOR REPUTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

We challenge the claimed incommensurability of individualism and struc turalism by showing how a cognitive theory can guide the use of struct ural methods. According to balance theory, there is a strain toward co gnitive balance in observers' perceptions of friendship relations. Thu s, we found, as predicted, that being perceived to have a prominent fr iend in an organization boosted an individual's reputation as a good p erformer, but that actually having such a friend (as assessed by conve ntional structural methods] had no effect. Bringing individual percept ions back into structural analysis enhances, rather than detracts from , the effectiveness of a structural approach.