Perception accuracy, biases and path dependency in longitudinal social networks.

Area of Science:

• Organizational behavior
• Social network analysis
• Psychology

Background:

• Limited longitudinal studies on organizational social structure perception.
• Existing research often relies on cross-sectional data.
• Need for understanding dynamic network perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate changes in network perception accuracy over time.
• Examine perception of direct ties and social hierarchy.
• Identify reasons for persistent perception errors.
• Analyze perception accuracy of dyadic relationships longitudinally.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal whole network perception data collection from MBA students across three time points.
• Analysis of accuracy in perceiving overall network structure and ego-nets.
• Examination of perception of incoming friendship ties and popularity.
• Exploration of error persistence and dyadic relation tracking.

Main Results:

• No significant increase in overall network perception accuracy over time.
• Consistent inflation of incoming friendship ties observed.
• Individuals accurately perceived changes in social hierarchy (popularity) despite static network accuracy.
• Perception errors often stemmed from failure to update prior judgments.
• Stable dyads were more accurately perceived than transient ones.

Conclusions:

• Network perception accuracy does not inherently improve longitudinally.
• Individuals can discern macro-level social dynamics (hierarchy) better than micro-level network details.
• Failure to update perceptions contributes significantly to inaccuracies.
• The stability of relationships influences perception accuracy.
• Future research should focus on temporal dynamics in network perception.