Reorganization and Tie Decay Choices
研究当机会结构重组时，人们如何根据过往关系经验选择保留或放弃社会联系，尤其关注马基雅维利主义人格、互惠性和社会嵌入性的影响，利用随机自然实验验证假设。
Whereas most research on network evolution has focused on the role of interaction opportunities in the formation of new ties, this paper addresses tie decay choices. When the opportunity structure gets reorganized, social actors make choices about which ties to retain and which to allow to decay, informed by their past experience of the tie. I argue that, conditional on changes in opportunity, people (especially those with Machiavellian personalities) choose to retain ties to valuable contacts, they retain reciprocated ties (especially with highly empathic others), and they retain socially embedded ties (especially if they are low self-monitors). The empirical design, which exploits a randomized natural experiment, confirms these hypotheses and suggests that our understanding of tie decay choices—and, consequently, of network evolution—is enhanced by an integrated theoretical perspective that encompasses both social structure and social psychology. This paper was accepted by Olav Sorenson, organizations.