How to encourage people to build diverse business networks?

Abstract

With professional social networking sites (PSNS) networking opportunities basically have no limits. Industry experts, influencers, and knowledgeable people from all sorts of fields and from all over the world can potentially become part of your business network, providing access to new perspectives and new information. Connecting with a diverse set of people with different expertise and knowledge can enhance personal work performance and career advancement. Yet, many people are online mainly connected with others they know from their direct work environment. Despite a lot of research concerning the influences on networking behavior, there is no research investigating if people who know that networking can be beneficial network more. More importantly, there is no research investigating if people who know that a diverse network is important network more diversely and whether or not affective and technical influences interfere with the relationship between knowing and doing. In an experimental study (n = 316), we examine the effects of knowledge and website functionalities on professional networking in order to draw implications on how to improve PSNS to encourage people to build diverse business networks. We find that people who generally know that networking is beneficial, in fact, network more. Moreover, people who know that diversity is important network more diversely. Besides, technical features of the website (e.g. who is recommended) can influence people's networking behavior. Finally, results are discussed and implications to improve PSNS are drawn.