The interplay between formal project memberships and informal advice seeking in knowledge-intensive firms: A multilevel network approach

Abstract

In this study we investigate the interplay between knowledge workers’ formal project team memberships and their informal interactions from a multilevel network perspective. Conceptualizing knowledge workers’ affiliation with project teams as a membership network and their interactions as an advice network, we discuss how shared project team memberships as well as multiple memberships influence patterns of informal exchange in knowledge-intensive organizations. To empirically determine the impact of formal organization on informal exchange we apply exponential random graph models for multilevel networks to relational data collected on 434 R&D employees working on 218 project teams in a high-tech firm in Germany. Our results show that employees sharing project memberships create advice ties to each other but do not exchange advice reciprocally. In addition, we find a negative relationship between having a high number of project memberships and informally seeking or providing advice.