THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NETWORK AND SELF-MONITORING ON CAREER

This study aims to explore individual differences (gender and self-monitoring) and social network patterns of professionals, in order to explain barriers on women striving to ascend to the top of organizations, since a self-monitoring personality and social networks have both been found to affect performance evaluation, promotions and career in organizations. The results showed that males in management positions displayed the same network pattern, whereas females had different networks patterns, depending on their self-monitoring. Furthermore, social network differences were enhanced regarding low self-monitor males and females. High self-monitors males in gender homophilic networks were the ones more related to higher positions in the organization’s hierarchy. The contribution of these findings are discussed, with suggestions for future research