Centrality, brokerage and in-role performance in professional organizations

In this paper, we present a comprehensive view of centrality, brokerage and individual performance by integrating a structural approach and contingency view of network theory. Network theory up until now has shown that both centrality and brokerage are associated with higher performance, but studies comparing the effects of centrality and brokerage are rare. We propose that the effects of both centrality and brokerage are simultaneously present. Work role moderates both the centrality and brokerage effects, and brokerage moderates centrality’s effect on performance. Specifically, we studied the effects of individual’s positions and work role in three organization-wide communication networks in an architect firm of 93 employees. Our analysis demonstrates an association between centrality and performance for both employee roles, but the contributors did not benefit from brokerage to the same extent as the supervisors. Brokerage positively moderated the association between centrality and in-role performance, but the effect was smaller for those supervisors whose brokerage score was the highest. These findings correspond with extant understanding of the effects of brokerage, but the findings also support recent views that centrality is generally more often associated with high performance compared to brokerage.