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Sociologists have traditionally studied friendships made in offline settings. Why, then, do people turn to the Internet to find face-to-face friendships? The existing literature has little to say on this topic. This paper examines Meetup.com, a website that allows people to search for, join, and create groups around common interests or identities. Using qualitative methodology, I offer a theoretical explanation for why people turn to the Internet for face-to-face interactions. I argue that Meetup users are situated at an intersection of three social forces: life course events that diminish their local social network; limited access to traditional social contexts like school, work, and other organizations; and a need to belong to a social circle that enables both a sense of individuality and participation in public life. This paper offers new insights into how the Internet facilitates social life in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents organization and management theory conference paper abstracts. "Factors That Impact Sales Person's Performance in Virtual Environments" aims to understand the effects of sales persons' location on their sales quota achievement. "Can Progress Be Resistant to Bad Institutions? The Case of ICT" shows that cross-country differences in the use of information and communication technologies are to a considerable extent due to differences in the investment climate. "Chance, Choice, & Inevitability in Strategy," discusses strategic choice.