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This paper investigates dynamic changes in instrumental (i.e., work‐related) tie‐seeking patterns and the structure of a communication network following a downsizing event—whereby many employees are simultaneously eliminated from a network. Our analysis spans a two‐year period and applies a resource‐ and network‐change approach to examine how survivors develop revised resource‐acquisition strategies while repositioning themselves after a downsizing. Our results demonstrate that two temporary logics of tie formation—a suspension of within‐unit homophily and a preference for seeking ties with long‐tenured employees—help employees acquire betweenness centrality during the disruption period. Specifically, we find that disruption initiates a transitional period after downsizing in which new tie‐making logics are employed, including seeking out ties with long‐tenured employees and employees outside of one's department. We observed post‐disruption, during the stabilization period after downsizing, where logics used for tie‐making in the disruption period were abandoned, pre‐disruption tie‐making logics were resumed, and betweenness centrality remained relatively constant. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these results and suggest future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pre- and postdownsizing information flow and postdownsizing turnover intentions of downsizing survivors were examined in the corporate office of an international hotel company. Using a combination of network analysis and path analysis, the relationship between changes in downsizing survivors' betweenness centrality and perceptions of information adequacy relative to reported turnover intentions were examined across two postdownsizing time periods. Results of the path analyses provided general support for the model as hypothesized, indicating in postdownsizing periods that changes to network members' network centrality positively influenced changes in their perceptions of information adequacy, which then negatively influenced their turnover intentions. The article concludes with a discussion of the support for the hypotheses and the study's limitations and pragmatic implications. Keywords: communication networks; downsizing; longitudinal network analysis

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in network analysis in the social sciences (Biggart & Delbridge, 2004; Monge & Contractor, 2003; Pescosolido & Rubin, 2000; Seary & Richards, [...]

The authors proposed and tested a model describing the relationship between customer service providers' perceptions and attitudes toward their service-related duties and their customers' perceptions of satisfaction with their service experiences. Results indicated that the perception of having standards for service delivery in an organization is strongly related to line-level employees' perceptions of support from coworkers and supervisors. Perceived support from coworkers was significantly related to service providers' customer orientation, whereas perceived support from supervisors showed a weaker relationship to a customer orientation. Ultimately, service providers' customer orientation was strongly related to customers' satisfaction with service. Finally, a set of post hoc analyses indicated that coworker and supervisory support explained a greater proportion of incremental variance in the model than did perceived organizational support alone.

The social exchange between consumers and service providers in service-based operations (such as restaurants) provides an opportunity to examine complaint efficacy and outcome expectations. To further explain the cognitive influences behind complaint message production and delivery, this two-part investigation applied previous work involving self-efficacy theory within the context of consumer complaint intentions about service experiences. Specifically, it extended Makoul and Roloff s work from complaint intentions in romantic relationships to consumerism. In Study 1, existing measures of complaint efficacy and outcome expectations were redesigned and validated in a service context, indicating that the two constructs are in fact distinct, despite controversy over their conceptualization and measurement. In Study 2, the measures were revalidated and applied to a simple causal string, modeling the cognitive processing of complaint intentions in terms of the relationship among consumers' dining frequency, complaint efficacy, and outcome expectations. Results indicated that dining frequency significantly influenced complaint efficacy expectations and that efficacy expectations significantly predicted outcome expectations.

Organizational downsizing places many strains on surviving employees. Despite the implicit relationship between changes to communication networks and employee responses, few studies examine downsizing-induced network changes or the impact of these changes on employees This longitudinal investigation examined fluctuations in structural holes within a hospitality company's corporate headquarters resulting from the loss and gain of communication contacts. Building on Burt's treatise on structural holes, we tested a measurement of structural holes and its relationship to layoff survivors' perceptions of organizational chaos and their willingness to participate in planned, postdownsizing changes. Although the downsizing had a modest impact on surviving employees' structural hole experiences overall, the structural hole index was a significant predictor in longitudinal and within time period comparisons of employees' perceptions of chaos and openness to change., Employees face many challenges following a downsizing. Layoff survivors experience the loss of coworkers, friends, supervisors, subordinates, and access to valued organizational resources (Brockner, 1988). The loss or reconfiguring of [...]

Using a table-service casual dining restaurant chain, we used direct observations to examine how guests' use of tabletop technology affected their dining time and front of house labor usage. Results from our study showed that dining time was significantly reduced for guests who used the tabletop devices to either order, or order and pay for their meals by 17% and 31%, respectively. We also found that server contact time and table service time required by the servers to manage their guests' experiences was significantly decreased for the tables that used the tabletop devices compared with the tables that did not use the devices. Practical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined team processes and outcomes among 12 multi-university distributed project teams from 11 universities during its early and late development stages over a 14-month project period. A longitudinal model of team interaction is presented and tested at the individual level to consider the extent to which both formal and informal network connections—measured as degree centrality—relate to changes in team members' individual perceptions of cohesion and conflict in their teams, and their individual performance as a team member over time. The study showed a negative network centrality-cohesion relationship with significant temporal patterns, indicating that as team members perceive less degree centrality in distributed project teams, they report more team cohesion during the last four months of the project. We also found that changes in team cohesion from the first three months (i.e., early development stage) to the last four months (i.e., late development stage) of the project relate positively to changes in team member performance. Although degree centrality did not relate significantly to changes in team conflict over time, a strong inverse relationship was found between changes in team conflict and cohesion, suggesting that team conflict emphasizes a different but related aspect of how individuals view their experience with the team process. Changes in team conflict, however, did not relate to changes in team member performance. Ultimately, we showed that individuals, who are less central in the network and report higher levels of team cohesion, performed better in distributed teams over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 51 full-service restaurants from three competing full-service restaurant companies, we extended the research on service process management by connecting the reactions of service-based employees to guests’ satisfaction with their service experience and firm-level performance. We replicated and confirmed previous tests of the existing guest–server exchange model connecting frontline-level employees’ attitudes toward their work as service providers to guests’ satisfaction in the restaurants. Most notably, we extended the guest–server exchange model by including the relationship between guests’ reports of satisfaction with service and firm performance, bringing together three unique sources of data. The findings from the test of our structural equation model revealed that 26% of the variance in firm performance was accounted for by guest satisfaction, showing that organizational policies and support for employees, are connected to a positive service climate, guest satisfaction, and firm performance, measured as sales per available seat in each restaurant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]