Negative Ties at Work: How Brokering Negative Ties Affects Individuals’ Innovative Behavior

Abstract

Social structure is critical in organizational life. While abundant scholarly work has emphasized the benefits and opportunities that follow from positive interpersonal relationships in the context of social networks in work organizations, it has largely overlooked the role of negative relationships. The aim of this paper is to shed more light on this issue. Using a mixed methods approach, we examine the role of direct and indirect negative relationships on individuals’ innovative behavior. In a study of a high-end Italian architectural studio, we demonstrate that both direct and indirect negative relationships lead to poorer innovative performance, as evaluated by the focal individual’s supervisor. The results provide important insights into the social processes and relational dynamics that explain the relationship between negative ties and individuals’ innovative behavior, offering noteworthy implications for theory, research, and practice on negative ties and innovative behavior.