Determinants of Multifaceted Collaborative Relationships in Science and Engineering Fields

1
Determinants of Multifaceted Collaborative
Relationships in Science and Engineering Fields

• Yamini Jha
• Ph.D. Student in Public Administration
• Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Lab
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• yjha2_at_uic.edu
• Dr. Eric W. Welch
• Associate Professor
• Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Lab
• Department of Public Administration
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• ewwelch_at_uic.edu

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
2
Research Question

• What social capital and ST human capital factors
  determine Multifaceted Collaborative
  Relationships in science and engineering fields?
• Multifaceted Collaborative Relationship
  refers to types of collaborative activities in a
  relationship/tie
• The types of collaborative activities are
• collaboration on a grant proposal
• collaboration on a conference paper
• collaboration on a journal article
• collaboration on product development
• collaboration on patent application

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
3
Literature Review

• Uzzis logic of embedded relationships that
  involve fine grained information transfer between
  ego and alter (Uzzi, 1996, 1997)
• Generative capacity of relationships the
  capacity of increasing the scope of the existing
  relationship by incorporating additional facets
  (McEvily et al, 2003)
• Interaction over a long period of time exposes
  both ego and alter to get engaged in activities
  beyond their current activity (Lewicki et al,
  1998)
• Social proximity/homophily fosters collaborative
  relationships of trust and reciprocity (Ibarra,
  1992)

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
4
Literature Review continued

• Expressive relationships such as friendships
  provides psycho social support as well as perform
  functions related to work (Lincoln and Miller,
  1979)
• Women seek different types of resources from
  different sources-- social support resources from
  women, instrumental resources from men (Ibarra,
  1992)
• Affiliation to a lab provides joint access to
  equipment and other facilities that fosters
  collaborative relationships (Meadows and
  OConnor, 1971).
• Scientists who are attracted to interdisciplinary
  work prefer team based collaborative approaches
  (Rhoten, 2007).

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
5
Literature Review continued

• Based on literature so far, the conceptual
  model of multifaceted collaborative relationships
  is
• Multifaceted collaborative relationshipf(
  strength of ties, length of the relationship,
  expressiveness of ties, physical proximity,
  homophily, affiliation to a lab,
  interdisciplinary publication)

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
6
Conceptual Model of Multifaceted Collaborative
Relationship
Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
7
Hypotheses

• H1 Closeness will be positively associated with
  multifaceted collaborative relationship
• H2 Physical proximity will be positively
  associated with multifaceted collaborative
  relationship
• H3 Homophily of rank will be positively
  associated with multifaceted collaborative
  relationship
• H4 Homophily of gender will be negatively
  associated with multifaceted collaborative
  relationship
• H5 Affiliation with a lab will be positively
  associated with multifaceted collaborative
  relationship
• H6 Interdisciplinary publication is positively
  associated with multifaceted collaborative
  relationship

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
8
Variables

• Dependent variable
• YMultifaceted collaborative relationship
  (For the individuals you know, what types of
  collaborations you had with them over the past
  two academic years?, Research grant proposal(0,
  1), conference paper(0,1), journal
  article(0,1), product development(0,1), patent
  application(0,1)
• Operationalization
• Tie/Relationship count (Number of collaborative
  activities in each relation/tie)
• Discrete multifaceted relationship (1/0) 1 when
  countgt1

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
9
Variables continued..

• Independent variables ( at tie/relationship
  level)
• X1 strength of ties (In the past academic
  year, how frequently were you in personal contact
  with these individuals, 4at least daily, 3about
  weekly, 2about monthly, 1less often)
• X2Length of the relationship (How long have you
  known the individual you named, 1less than three
  years, 2three to six years, 3more than 6 years)
• X3Alter outside of egos institution( Over the
  past two academic years, who have been your
  closest research collaborators outside of your
  institution)
• (source of data NETWISE survey, 2007)
  

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
10
Independent variables at the tie/relationship
level continued

• X4Alter is a female (Please indicate if
  this person is a female 1/0)
• X5Alter is a close friend (Please indicate
  if this person is a close friend 1/0)
• X6Ego femaleAlter female ( homophily by
  gender)
• X8Ego associateAlter associate ( homophily
  by rank)
• X9Ego fullAlter full (homophily by rank)
• (source of data NETWISE survey, 2007)

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
11
Independent variables at the Ego level

• X17publication interdisciplinary percent
  (Approximately what percentage of your
  publications would others in your discipline
  recognize as interdisciplinary(0-100)
• X19Formal affiliation with a lab (Are you a
  member or have a formal affiliation with a
  permanent science or engineering lab or center
  1/0)
• Control variables
• X16Full professor (Are you currently full
  professor 1/0)
• X16Associate professor (Are you currently
  associate professor 1/0)
• X18publication average (over the past five
  years, on average how many peer reviewed journal
  articles have you published per year)
• X19disciplines/fields

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
12
Methodology

• Hierarchical Linear modeling technique(HLM) using
  HLM6 software
• Unique dataset(NETWISE, 2007), opportunity to
  explore data at the tie/relationship level as
  well as the respondent/ego level
• nested structure of the data ties are
  nested within the egos

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
13
Hierarchical Linear Model Findings
plt0.10 plt0.05 plt0.01 Model 1 Discrete
multifaceted relationship as function of alter
level variables and ego level variables Model 2
Multifaceted collaborative count as a function of
alter level variables and ego level variables
Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
14
Hierarchical Linear Model Findings continued
Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
15
Hierarchical Linear Model Findings

• Close relationships are more likely to be
  multifaceted.
• When ego and alter are both full professors, the
  collaborative relationship is less likely to be
  multifaceted.
• When ego and alter are both female scientists,
  the collaborative relationship is less likely to
  be multifaceted.
• Physical proximity is negatively associated with
  multifaceted collaborative relationships
• Scientists with high percentage of
  interdisciplinary publication are more likely to
  be multifaceted.
• Scientists affiliated to a lab are more likely to
  have multifaceted collaborative relationships

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago
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Conclusion

• The study of predictors of multifaceted
  collaborative relationship at two levels of
  analysis relationship level and ego level allows
  for a better understanding of multifaceted
  relationships of scientists
• The relational aspects of social capital such as
  strength and length of ties, and expressiveness
  of ties are important for multifaceted
  collaborative relationships
• ST human capital factors such as affiliation to
  a permanent science and engineering lab, and
  percentage of interdisciplinary publications are
  positively associated with multifaceted
  collaborative relationships

Prepared for presentation at STE Policy Lab
Symposium March 17-18th 2009, CUPPA-UIC, Chicago