Boundary Spanning in Organizations:The Role of Affective and Instrumental Multiplexity

Abstract

Previous research has identified how organizations develop boundary spanning roles or addressed the outcomes of boundary spanning, but did not provide much evidence as to how individuals become boundary spanners. Building on social network research, we argue that the depth of social relationships, rather than their breadth, positively affects the development of boundary spanning positions. We develop a theory of tie multiplexity, intended as the extent to which two actors are connected by more than one type of relationship. We theorize that an actor’s ability to bridge across organizational silos is enhanced by two distinct forms of relational pluralism: instrumental multiplexity, an individual’s tendency to construe a single social connection to a colleague as a source of a plurality of instrumental inputs; and affective-instrumental multiplexity, an individual’s tendency to establish social connections in which affective and instrumental content coexist. Analyses of network data on 182 out of 190 employees of a mid-size engineering and manufacturing company in the automotive industry reveal that an actor’s friendship ties, when devoid of instrumental content, decrease the likelihood of boundary spanning. By contrast, both instrumental and affective-instrumental forms of multiplexity facilitate boundary spanning.