In many facets of life, individuals make evaluations that they often update after consulting with others in their peer networks. But not all individuals have the same positional opportunities for social interaction in a given network, nor the ability and desire to make use of those opportunities...

The strength of weak ties is amongst the most important theories in the social sciences. One paradoxical element of the theory has been widely understood and valued—that weak ties connect disparate regions of social structure. Less appreciated, however, is the arguably more paradoxical...

Advances in information technology have fundamentally altered how we make decisions, as well as the range of alternative options we might consider when deciding. From fairly trivial decisions to important ones, our decisions are increasingly informed by online expert or “crowd-sourced”...

Purpose – Research has shown that employers often disfavor racial minorities - particularly African Americans - even when whites and minorities present comparable resumes when applying for jobs. Extant studies have been hard pressed to distinguish between taste-based discrimination where...

Research has consistently shown that the children of business owners are more likely to become business owners themselves. However, what mechanism(s) underlies this intergenerational correlation is still not clear. In this research I assess the importance of several mechanisms proposed to drive...

In this paper, we examine when members of underrepresented groups choose to support each other, using the context of the funding of female founders via donation-based crowdfunding. Building on theories of choice homophily, we develop the concept of activist choice homophily, in which the basis...

Social scientists have long considered what mechanisms underlie repeated exchange. Three mechanisms have garnered the majority of this attention: Formal contracts, relational contracts, and relationally embedded social ties. Although each mechanism has its virtues, all three exhibit a common...

Whether and how social capital derived through social ties creates value has animated substantial research in management, sociology, economics, and political science. Scholars are now generally inclined to believe that social ties have an impact on labor market outcomes — that is, it is “who...