Organizational Boundary Spanning in Large Collaborative Science

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Increasingly, the pursuit of scientific discovery is being fulfilled not by individuals working in isolation, but rather by teams of individuals, or even networks of teams, working together to achieve a common objective. One major reason for this shift toward larger social networks as solvers of scientific problems is that problems are becoming increasingly complex and require different areas of expertise, making them too difficult for individuals to solve alone. Although there is great potential for the use of networks of individuals and teams in the pursuit of science, they require individuals to navigate through the interpersonal complexities of those networks. Such complexities are especially evident when one considers that individuals, in order to accomplish their work, may be connected or tied not only to others working in the same organization, but also to others working in different organizations. With this in mind, the purpose of this research is to understand how the quantity, quality, and composition of individuals' internal and external ties influence performance in a scientific context, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which external ties facilitate or hinder the effects of internal ties on performance. Understanding the joint influence of internal and external social network ties not only has the potential to promote the progress of science, but it also has implications for contexts outside of science collaboration. For example, the knowledge generated by this research will have implications for medical care, which is increasingly provided by networks of individuals and teams, business organizations, which are utilizing teams that transcend the boundaries of a single organization, and the military, with its use of Joint Forces and Combined Operations. Via survey methodology, this research will generate data from a sample of scientists on their internal ties and external ties to other scientists working in particle physics facilities throughout the U.S. system of federally funded laboratories. To avoid limitations associated with self-report, the investigators will attempt to corroborate external ties reported by focal individuals with reports from internal ties. By identifying the quantity and quality of external, boundary spanning ties within the larger scientific ecosystem, the investigators will be able to examine issues such as the predictive validity of external ties relative to internal ties, whether external ties moderate the effects of internal ties on measures of performance, and whether the composition of external ties results in differential effects on performance, even when taking internal ties into account. In all, the initial identification of external ties, in conjunction with data on internal ties, represents an important extension because external ties may operate in a different manner relative to internal ties given that they may be characterized by (a) greater geographic dispersion, (b) higher levels of goal misalignment between teams, (c) less diversity because of the voluntary nature of external ties, and (d) less face-to-face interaction, depending upon the level of communication technology.