Social Influence in Informal Networks: Are the Two Ways to the Top Equally Viable for Men and Women

Abstract

Ability to influence others or having higher status is important for professional growth and well-being. As a results individuals strive for greater social rank in workplace and life in general. The dual framework of social rank allocation discusses dominance and prestige as two viable routes to status or social influence. In doing so, this literature has largely neglected findings demonstrating backlash against men and women for behaving in gender incongruent ways. Likewise, it is unclear if dominance and prestige continue to be effective means to status over time. In this research, we examine the viability of dominance or prestige on individual’s social influence, conditional on their gender and over time. Using a stereotypically neutral context of online social networks, we unobtrusively tracked individual’s social influence among their network members on Twitter. By analyzing almost 230,000 tweets, we find that men’s (women’s) influence increases with greater dominance (prestige), whereas women’s (men’s) decreases. Network centrality explains this differential interaction pattern. Additionally, longitudinal analysis provide a more nuanced understanding. Role incongruent effects dampened over time, dominance became less effective even for men, and prestige became viable for both men and women. Thus, by jointly considering the role of gender and time, this research offers key theoretical caveats to the dual rank framework and sheds light on viable pathways to achieving social influence.