Productivity and Performance in Academic Networks: Applications of Liaison Communication to Simmelian Ties, Structural Holes, and Degree Centrality

In 1968, Donald Schwartz completed what is now seen as the first network analysis performed in the field of communication (Rogers, 1994). The results found in this paper confirm the significance of Schwartz’ (1968) original research and extend his research to findings associated with the performance and productivity of academic researchers. The ability to retest the data collected by Schwarz in 1968 is a testament to his methods and processes, while new processes, such as a unique measure of Simmelian ties, were developed and utilized in this study. The similarity of the perceived and demographic data across three dimensions, Simmelian tie, structural holes, and degree centrality, not only support the original research but also provide insights into the effects of structure and position on performance and perception of academic networks. Findings related to categorical demographic data, rank and gender, offer a view into the nature of academic organizational networks and help tell their story. Structural holes (constraints) were found to decrease as tenure increased in an educational context, contrary to Burt's (1992b) findings and in support of Susskind et al.'s (1998) findings. This finding is explained as a combination of the level of seniority of the respondents and general organizational structure. The current research highlights the ability of network analysis to reveal organizational structure via communication linkages.