Emergent network structure and initial group performance: The moderating role of pre‐existing relationships

Organization restructurings often put groups of employees into new teams and roles, and it is not unusual for some of these new teammates to have pre‐existing work and friendship relationships. While there has been much theorizing on the impact of existing social network structures on group performance, there has been less research on how pre‐existing relationships help or hinder initial group performance, especially in teams with interdependent roles and tasks. We explore several hypotheses in a competitive management simulation involving 42 teams and find that (1) the density of pre‐existing work and friendship relationships are directly associated with higher initial group performance, and (2) pre‐existing work network density moderates the relationship between emergent work network density and initial group performance. In other words, the degree to which emergent work ties are based on pre‐existing work relationships (i.e., former co‐workers actually work together in their new roles) also contributes to higher initial group productivity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.