The strength of performative ties: Three essays on knowledge, social networks, and exchange

Drawing on extensive fieldwork in multiple offices of a large, multinational professional service firm, we identify the pervasive presence of transactions that combine a wide search and intimate transfer between unacquainted individuals. These transactions happen despite geographical distance, absence of exchange history, or expectations of future interaction. We argue that such ties are theoretically significant, have several advantages for knowledge dissemination, and have been observed elsewhere, although never explicitly identified. We propose a definition of Performative Ties, and by comparing them to market, embedded, and community exchange relations show that Performative Ties combine benefits previously attributed to just one mode of exchange or another. We hypothesize on two boundary conditions related to the dyadic relationship: affiliation and status similarity. We suggest that Performative Ties allow organizations more efficient use of the knowledge contained in individuals and routines. Next, we hypothesize on the organizational antecedents associated with the appearance of Performative Ties. Such ties require an unbiased referral mechanism, such as an organizational index. Also required is a regime of generalized exchange that clears the transactions without direct reciprocity. We propose that such regime may be related to embeddedness of individuals in non-overlapping social networks, and the resulting increase in network density (or perception thereof). Several organizational mechanisms may be related: the project team, spatial arrangements, cross-site occasions, and mentoring. Also related may be the selection of members based on cues about cooperativeness. We explain why intrinsic or altruistic motivations, communities, clan-organizations, or strong social identity are not required for Performative Ties to appear. Finally, we suggest that characteristics of the good exchanged---knowledge---may make it especially suitable for robust Performative Ties. Elaborating on density in networks, we outline a theory of cascading benefits to explain the prevalent tendency of actors to cluster in homogenous structures within and between organizations. We propose that actors reap benefits from belonging to dense clusters, and thus will prefer social ties that are embedded in dense cluster. Using an experiment, we find that individuals revise tie strength according to perceived density, and most strongly when the relationship between the two differs from expectations