BUILDING WEAK TIES.
ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL
MECHANISMS OF REFERRALS
EXCHANGE WITHIN BUSINESS
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Ivana Pais
University of Brescia
pais@jus.unibs.it
Aalborg, June 9th, 2009

SOCIAL NETWORK AND SOCIAL
CAPITAL
2

APPROPRIABLE SOCIAL
ORGANISATIONS/
INTENTIONAL ORGANISATIONS
Literature: social capital as a by-product of
activities initiated for other purposes. Coleman:
appropriable social organisations, multiplexity
Today: emerging of “intentional organisations”
aimed at mobilising/creating social capital
directly pursuing business purposes
(employability of workers and competitiveness of
companies)
new spaces of sociality, online and off line
BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORK
3

MY RESEARCH: GOAL
Exploratory analysis of business social networks
aimed at examining:
1. the reasons that lead a professional to register in
a business social network,
2. the profile of such professionals,
3. the social mechanisms governing its functioning
4. the impacts on the professional performances of
its members.
4

MY RESEARCH: METHOD
Case-study of three business social networks
BNI Italia, referral organisation, set up in
California in 1985, 220 members in Italy
Milan IN, non profit association set up in Milan
(Italy) in 2005 to allow members of LinkedIn to
meet each other, 5300 members
Xing in Italy: online business social network, set
up in 2003 in Hamburg, 7 million of users
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MY RESEARCH: TECNIQUES
Analysis of documentation and observation
(September 2008 – May 2009)
Online questionnaire:
BNI Italy, May 8th-15th 2009, 90 respondents out of
218 (41%)
Milan IN, May 15th-22nd 2009, 1563 respondents out
of 5386 (29%)
Xing in Italy, still to be done
Social network analysis of referral exchange
between BNI members
Experimentation on 3 chapter between October 2008
and March 2009
In-dept interviews – still to be conducted 6

SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS:
EXAMPLE
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
7

BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORKS:
FORM OF ORGANISATION
Aims: enhancing already existing contacts,
establishing new social relations
Distintion from other organisation
(entrepreneurial associations, trade unions,
lobbies, service clubs…): no politics or religion
Legal form
Xing public limited company
BNI limited liability company
Milan IN non profit organisation
Activities
Xing: online contacts via web-based platform
Milan IN: weekly meeting + web-based platform
8
BNI: weekly meeting in presence

NETWORKERS: FEATURES
Self-selection based on shared rules and values
not on ascribed characteristics:
80% males
High educational level: 80% bachelor’s degree in
Milan IN and 48% in BNI (in Italy 11,6%)
Average age: 39 Milan IN, 46 BNI
High mobility (55% changed job in the last 3 years);
international mobility (57%)
Entrepreneurs (57%) and self-employed (40%) in
BNI, more employed (65%) in Milan IN
Sectors: IT and telecom (27%), consultancy and
services (19%) for Milan IN; building and real estate
(19%), IT and telecom (14%) for BNI.
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Satisfied with their job: on average, 7 (scale 1-10)

PARTECIPATION IN BUSINESS
SOCIAL NETWORK
Linked In registrations peaked in 2007 and
Milan In in 2008; BNI 60% of interviewed is
member since less than 1 year
Sources: word-of-mouth
Objectives when registering:
LinkedIn: keeping in touch with colleagues, but also
finding a job;
Milan IN: curiosity and exchange with colleagues,
updating;
BNI: looking for new customers and updating.
Information to company in BNI, not in Milan IN
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EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND
RESULTS: BNI
BNI: they mainly pass (and receive) referrals to
people with whom they have a good personal
relationship; presence of “reciprocated exchange” in
SNA
Expectations are fulfilled on average, as far as
business enlargement and updating is concerned;
fewer people find customers than those who would
like to do so, whereas more people achieve better
results in terms of socialisation than those who were
looking for contacts.
Respondents who declared having acquired new
customers via BNI total 40%, and they represent on
average 20% of the respondent’s new customers.
Satisfaction with BNI is on average 5.3 on a scale 11
ranging from 1 to 10.

EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND
RESULTS: MILAN IN
78% of respondents accept contacts in LinkedIn
even if they are unknown to them, primarily by
analysing their profile.
Milan IN meetings: 44% choose according to the
topic dealt with, whereas a third of respondents
states that they participate every time they have
the chance to do so.
Respondents declaring that they have not
achieved results are only 13% in LinkedIn,
whereas they total 39% in Milan IN. In both
cases, respondents are confident about future
prospects. Satisfaction: 6 (scale 1-10) 12

NEXT STEPS
Short term:
multivariate analysis and content analysis of the
answers to questions
social network analysis of exchange of referrals in
BNI
questionnaire to Xing Members
Medium term:
modelling of business networking strategies on and
off-line
content analysis of online social network profile
focus on professional group
comparative analysis among different countries and 13
cultures