WHO ARE EMPLOYEES SOCIAL REFERENTS - USING A NETWORK PERSPECTIVE TO DETERMINE REFERENT OTHERS

A social network perspective was used to. determine whom brokerage fir m employees selected as social referents. In particular, this study fo cused on cohesive actors (friends) and structurally equivalent actors (individuals occupying the same position in a network) as sources of s ocial information. Results on the social networks of brokers, sales as sistants, and operations employees (support staff) indicate distinct d ifferences in interaction patterns, information seeking, and social co mparison processes across the three job categories. Overall, the resul ts suggest that employees rely on structurally equivalent referents fo r job-related information and on cohesive referents for general organi zational information and as social comparison referents.