Ideological Boundaries of Advantageous Network Positions in the United States Congress

Abstract

Extant research has demonstrated that actors’ position within the informal network of an organization is consequential for their performance. We enrich this view by arguing that the beneficial effects of networks are bounded by an actor’s ideology – the set of value laden beliefs he/she holds about how the social world operates. We test our theory using data on the legislative effectiveness of members of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress. We find that the positive effects of having a sparse network rich in structural holes and of having a high-status position on the effectiveness of a legislator are diminished if this legislator holds heterodox ideological views. Our findings both deepen and qualify current understandings of how informal networks affect actors’ effectiveness within organizations.