Attention Biases in Social Networks

Abstract

This study examines how people connecting to brokers can receive high performance ratings in the workplace. Using survey data on communication networks among software engineers at a mobile service company, I find that independent of their ego network structure, individuals who pay more attention to brokers than to other communication partners receive higher performance ratings on project-based work than individuals who pay little (or no) attention to the brokers among their work colleagues. Although individuals should pay attention to brokers if they wish to receive higher performance ratings, I also find that people typically pay less attention to brokers than they do to other communication partners. The juxtaposition of these findings suggests that individuals have a systematic attention bias in social networks – that they do not normally allocate their attention in ways that benefit their performance ratings. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on attention and social networks in an organization.