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Handouts and Writing Sample for Group Work: Literature Review

Two persons work together to complete this assignment. You can find your own partner, if not,

you will be assigned a partner.

You need to read the article “Visions of Change as Visions of Continuity” in Academy of

Management Journal, which is provided on Bb Course Information.

You must use the template in another document to complete this assignment and submit it to the

literature review link on Bb Assignment in PDF or WORD document.

Write a short paragraph in a few lines for each question.

Grading criteria

Each Question 3 points x 4 questions = 12 points

Format = 3 points

Total: 15 points

Format includes the following:

 Using the template with all headings,

 Double space,

 1 inch margin around,

 Times New Roman 12,

 Writing in essay format and within the length limit (how many lines of writing)

Writing Sample for Literature Review (in next page)

Note: The sample writing uses an article that is different from the article you need to read for

your literature review. You can find your literature review article “Visions of Change as Visions

of Continuity” on Bb Course Information)

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Literature Review, MHR 3010, Fall 2019

Your Name: Linda Lin

Source: Troster, C. Parker, A, Van Knippenberg, D and Sahlmuller, B. (2019), The Coevolution

of Social Networks and Thoughts of Quitting, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 62, No 1,

pp. 22-43. (See Literature Review Article on Bb Course Information)

1. What were the major purpose and hypotheses described in the article? (Writing length:

purpose: 3-5 lines + Hypotheses: 5-10 lines)

The purpose of the article is to examine the connection between job turnover and individuals’

social network ties. As a process developing over time, the factors that influence turnover are

related to instrumental (advice) ties and affective ties (friendships) in social networks.

The authors formulated eight hypotheses for this research. H1. New advice seeking ties and new

friendship ties negatively influence subsequent thoughts of quitting. H2. Lost advice-seeking ties

and lost friendship ties positively influence thoughts of quitting. H3. Thoughts of quitting are

negatively associated with retention of advice ties and positively relate to creation of advice ties

(network churn). H4. These thoughts positively relate to subsequent retention of friendship ties

and negatively relate to subsequent creation of new friendship ties (network stasis). H5.

Thoughts of quitting are negatively related to the subsequent retention of advice ties (negative

retention effect). H6. Thoughts of quitting are positively related to the subsequent creation of

advice ties (positive creation effect). H7. Thoughts of quitting are positively related to the

subsequent retention of friendship ties (positive retention effect). H8. Thoughts of quitting are

negatively related to the subsequent creation of new friendship ties (negative creation effect).

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2. Explain the research samples and results. (writing length: 10-15 lines)

The research used a sample 121 employees who worked in one of the eight small healthcare

companies in the Netherlands with employees from ten to twenty-six. The employees hold such

job positions as veterinary medicine, acupuncture, pharmaceuticals, physiotherapy, and dentistry.

The authors send a questionnaire to all participants to collect self-reported data in 3 one-month

intervals. Most participants had been with the company for less than six years and working less

than 30 hours per week, and 78% of the sample population was women. The authors used

thoughts of quitting, advice ties, friendship ties, covariates, and structural effects as measures.

Covariates included, but not limited to, tenure, age, gender, hours worked, job satisfaction and

need to belong. 1,932 network relations in total were analyzed among the sample population.

Factors that could theoretically impact their results were also included in their results analysis.

Consideration was also given to the 11 participants who left the sample and 3 participants who

joined during the process. Ties for these individuals were given structural zeroes instead of

regular zeroes to account for ties which could not exist after leaving or before entering the

sample.

3. Explain the conclusions and practical implications in this article. (Writing length: total

10-12 lines for this question)

The conclusions are that thoughts of quitting influenced changes in social networks, but social

networks did not have an immediate effect on thoughts of quitting. High thoughts of quitting

had a propensity toward churn in advice networks and stasis in friendship networks. They also

increased the chance of giving up old advice ties for new ones. When employees had thoughts of

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quitting, they held on to existing relationships and did not influence attempting new ones. Social

networks are driven more by individual network choices to drop, retain, or create ties.

This study has practical implications for companies. When employees had considered quitting

their jobs, they were more inclined to sever the social connections that they had. However,

severing social connections did not lead to thoughts of quitting. The authors found that shifting

in a person’s network behavior reflects their thoughts of quitting, which can be used by

companies to initiate an intervention to encourage retention. The findings do not support

investing in social network expansion as antidote to turnover.

4. What are your learning and comments on the research in the article? (writing length: 8-

12 lines)

In my opinion, this research investigates an interesting issue about the relationship between the

development of social media and employees’ thoughts of quitting their job. Social network plays

an increasingly important role in organizations. I found it useful for me to capitalize on advice

ties and friendship ties in social networks for my career development. The feeling of belonging

as a covariate plays a large role at the workplace. I sense that the thoughts of quitting correlate

to the findings in this study. The study is validated by my experience as a manager dealing with

turnover in my company. In some of the organizations that I have worked in, I have observed

that individuals who had weak social networks ended up quitting their jobs. This research

provides insights into the role of organizational social network in the workplace.