New network models for the analysis of social contagion in organizations: An introduction to Auto-logistic Actor Attribute Models

Parker, A.; Pallotti, F.; Lomi, A.

doi:10.1177/1094428121100

New network models for the analysis of social contagion in organizations: An introduction to Auto-logistic Actor Attribute Models

Parker, A.; Pallotti, F.; Lomi, A.

Authors

Professor Andrew Parker andrew.parker@durham.ac.uk
Head Of Dept - Management & Marketing

F. Pallotti

A. Lomi

Abstract

Autologistic Actor Attribute Models (ALAAMs) provide new analytical opportunities to advance research on how individual attitudes, cognitions, behaviors, and outcomes diffuse through networks of social relations in which individuals in organizations are embedded. ALAAMs add to available statistical models of social contagion the possibility of formulating and testing competing hypotheses about the specific mechanisms that shape patterns of adoption/diffusion. The main objective of this paper is to provide an introduction and a guide to the specification, estimation, interpretation and evaluation of ALAAMs. Using original data, we demonstrate the value of ALAAMs in an analysis of academic performance and social networks in a class of graduate management students. We find evidence that both high and low performance are contagious, i.e., diffuse through social contact. However, the contagion mechanisms that contribute to the diffusion of high performance and low performance differ subtly and systematically. Our results help us identify new questions that ALAAMs allow us to ask, new answers they may be able to provide, and the constraints that need to be relaxed to facilitate their more general adoption in organizational research.

Citation

Parker, A., Pallotti, F., & Lomi, A. (2022). New network models for the analysis of social contagion in organizations: An introduction to Auto-logistic Actor Attribute Models. Organizational Research Methods, 25(3), 513-540. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428121100

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2022-07
Deposit Date	Sep 21, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Oct 21, 2021
Journal	Organizational Research Methods
Print ISSN	1094-4281
Electronic ISSN	1552-7425
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	25
Issue	3
Pages	513-540
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428121100
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1235448