Personal Networks of Women and Minorities in Management: A Conceptual Framework

Despite voluminous research indicating that women and minorities have limited access to or are excluded from organizational networks, two central questions remain unanswered: (a) In what specific ways, if any, do the interaction networks of men and women and whites and racial minorities differ? and (b) What mechanisms produce those differences? The central thesis of the article is that the organizational context in which interaction networks are embedded produces unique constraints on women and racial minorities, causing their networks to differ from those of their white male counterparts in composition and characteristics of their relationships with network members. Organizational context is hypothesized to affect personal networks directly, as well as through its impact on individuals' strategies for managing constraints. A theoretical perspective that views women and minorities as active agents who make strategic choices among structurally limited alternatives is offered.