Gendered Networking: Gender, Environment, and Managerial Networking

• Author: Eunju Rho,Kangbok Lee
• Date: 01 May 2018
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12918

Gendered Networking: Gender, Environment, and Managerial Networking 409

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 78, Iss. 3, pp. 409–421. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12918.

Research Article

Gendered Networking:

Gender, Environment, and Managerial Networking

Eunju Rho

Northern Illinois University

Kangbok Lee

Auburn University

Abstract : This article examines how gender influences top managers’ networking activities and what situational

factors intensify or ameliorate such gender effects. Focusing on female top managers’ efforts to engage in external

networking activities, the authors conceptualize how and why female managers might develop different networking

patterns and how such relationships could be redirected by several contingent factors specific to the context of U.S.

local school districts. Using three sets of surveys on managerial behavior and management styles supplemented with

six years of information related to organizational contexts, the authors find that, in general, gender differences lead

to corresponding differences in the extent of involvement in managerial networking. Such effects are moderated by

situational factors that impede or facilitate the number of available strategic managerial choices that allow managers

to cope with them. The findings emphasize the need to consider the strengths and weaknesses of gender conjointly in

assessing networking behaviors.

Evidence for Practice

• Differences in the types of networking activities undertaken by female and male managers and the time they

spend on them may have a bearing on whether, and in what ways, female and male managers’ networking

behaviors can be utilized for specific purposes.

• Turbulent conditions within an organization provide female managers with the opportunity, motivation, and

ability to more actively engage in external networking to benefit the organization.

• Uncertainties in the managerial environment are salient when assessing managers’ networking activity is

based on gender.

N etworking activities of top managers are

frequently employed as managerial strategies

to obtain social resources embedded within

a network (Florin, Lubatkin, and Schulze 2003 ) and

to buffer unexpected external threats (Luo 2003 ).

Research focusing on top managers, top management

teams, and entrepreneurship has examined the

importance of networking and networks in creating

supportive coalitions among external actors who

can provide critical social, economic, and political

resources to the focal organization (Hoang and

Antoncic 2003 ; Larson and Starr 1993 ). Adopting

this perspective in the setting of public organizations,

ample public management research has documented

the outcomes of top managers’ networking

activities (e.g., Meier and O’Toole 2001 , 2003 ).

However, despite voluminous research indicating

the positive impact of networking on organizational

performance, little empirical research has

investigated the factors that influence top managers’

decisions to engage in networking relationships with

external entities.

Networks are inherently formed on the basis of social

interactions; they are understood as “a mechanism

through which individuals become connected to and

positioned within that social field” (Hanson and Blake

2009 , 137). Top managers’ efforts to develop and

exploit personal, social, and professional networking

relationships with external entities can enable them to

acquire resources, information, and knowledge, all of

which may be necessary to mitigate the uncertainties

and challenges facing their organizations (Acquaah

2007 ). Their willingness to engage in networking

relationships is informal by nature, so the extent to

which top managers exploit interpersonal ties depends

strongly on their willingness to develop and maintain

such social connections with others (Meier and

O’Toole 2005 ).

From the perspective of upper echelons theory

(Hambrick and Mason 1984 ), individual

characteristics of top managers strongly influence

organizational strategies, including collaborative

activities, because “executives act on the basis of their

Eunju Rho is assistant professor in

the Department of Public Administration

at Northern Illinois University. Her

primary research interests include

government performance, managerial

behavior, government contracting, and

networking management. Her work has

appeared in journals such as Public

Administration Review, International

Public Management Journal, and

International Review of Public

Administration .

E-mail: erho@niu.edu

Kangbok Lee is Atlanta Alumni

Fellowship Professor of Business Analytics

in the Harbert College of Business at

Auburn University. His research interests

are in the areas of heterogeneity in

dynamics and causal inference. He

has published in journals such as the

International Journal of Research

in Marketing, European Journal of

Marketing, Decision Sciences, Public

Administration Review, and Journal of

Business Logistics .

E-mail: kbl0009@auburn.edu