RUI: The Influence of Network Structure on Sex Disparities in Scientific Collaboration: Commercial Innovation in the Life Sciences

本研究考察了网络结构对科学合作中性别差异的影响。它整合了30年间（1976-2002年）国家生物技术发明人群体和来自各种组织设置（包括公共研究机构、制药公司和政府实验室）的协作网络的数据。研究结果应提供网络机制与科学中性别结果之间的直接因果关系。先前关于社会联系的性别差异的研究表明，女性和男性在工作环境中采取的互动模式在性质上是不同的。这些影响妇女工作表现的网络理论表明，产生性别差异的关键机制是通过妇女在工作场所建立或能够建立的联系和联系表现出来的。然而，对于网络机制如何在不同的科学环境中产生不同的结果，我们知之甚少。目前尚不清楚哪种类型的网络支持女性合作，以及这些因素是否与支持男性合作的因素不同。虽然有研究表明，科学生产力的性别差异似乎在不同的组织环境中有所不同——具体来说，在水平组织的工作环境中，与等级组织的工作环境相比，性别差异更大。造成这些差异的机制尚未被清楚地确定。通过研究组织形式如何影响跨部门协作工作的结构，可以更深入地了解女性和男性在科学领域的分层过程。这项研究的前提是，在特定组织或行业中，不同的合作结构不仅会影响男性和女性科学家。找到合作者的机会，但这些联系对生产工作的后续影响更普遍。本研究的变革性在于将社会结构的网络理论与国家创新背景下关于性别和职业动态的工作的当前见解相结合。此外，本研究采用了新颖的研究方法，扩展了我们目前的网络分析方法。更广泛的影响这个项目对目前关于科学和创新中造成性别差异的因果因素的讨论，以及关于网络和社会结构的更大的理论文献都有重要的意义。本研究确定跨组织形式的网络机制是否会导致女性创新能力下降。因此，它提供了关于政策如何能够有针对性地使妇女充分参与科学并为国家科学创新作出充分贡献的见解。

This research examines the influence of network structure on sex disparities in scientific collaboration. It incorporates data on the collaboration networks of the national population of biotechnology inventors and those from a variety of organizational settings (including public research organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and government laboratories) across a thirty-year period (1976-2002). The results should provide direct causal linkages between network mechanisms and gendered outcomes in science.Intellectual MeritPrevious research on sex differences in social connectivity suggests that women and men assume qualitatively different patterns of interaction in their work settings. These network theories of influence on women's performance suggest that a key mechanism in the production of sex disparities manifests itself through the ties and connections that women make, or are able to make, in workplace settings. Little is known about the ways in which network mechanisms might be operating to produce differences in outcomes across scientific settings, however. It is not clear what types of networks support women's collaboration and whether those factors differ from those that support men's collaboration. And while it has been shown that sex disparities in scientific productivity appear to differ across organizational settings -- specifically, in more horizontally-organized work settings as compared with more hierarchical ones. The mechanism for these differences has not been clearly identified. Greater insight into the stratification processes of women and men in science can be gained by studying how organizational forms affect the way collaborative work is structured across sectors. The premise of the proposed study is that the differing structures of collaboration in particular organizations or industries not only influences men and women scientists? opportunities for finding collaborators, but the subsequent influence of these connections on productive work more generally. The transformative nature of this research lies in the integration of network theories of social structure and current insight in work on gender and occupational dynamics within a national innovation context. In addition, this research employs novel research methods that extend our current approaches to network analysis.Broader ImpactThis project has significant implications for current discussions on the causal factors bringing about sex disparities in science and innovation, and also for the larger theoretical literature on networks and social structure. This research establishes whether network mechanisms across organizational forms result in decreased innovation by women. As such, it provides insights into how policy can be targeted to fully engage women in science and contribute fully to national scientific innovation.