DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH IN DRMS Collective Response to Scarcity: How the Resource Environment Shapes Social Networks

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The success or failure of an organization hinges on its ability to effectively process information. Effective information processing requires people to acquire information themselves and to communicate with one another. The communication patterns that emerge from people’s choices about when, and with whom, to communicate have direct consequences for the speed at which information moves around an organization, and the validity of that information. These processes and factors are especially important for organizations responding to causal shocks or crises in their resource environments (e.g., financial actors facing the 2008 Housing Market Crash, all citizens facing the COVID-19 Pandemic).This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) explores the communication networks that emerge among people reacting to changes in their resource environment. We apply an experimental method plus agent-based modeling to zero-in on the causal relationship between resource availability and communication network structure. Our overarching hypothesis is that when resources become increasingly scarce, people connect with fewer communication partners, and increase their rate of communication with each partner. Thus, social networks will shrink in size and become more densely connected in response to resource scarcity. The reverse pattern of communication occurs in times of abundance. We also assess the adaptive efficacy of these collective communication strategies in response to resource shocks to draw conclusions that will be helpful in designing and managing organizational responses to crises. The results of this investigation will help us understand, and anticipate, the way environmental shocks – like an economic recession or pandemic – affect an organization’s ability to effectively manage information.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.