The document explores the dynamics of social support arising from economic exchanges among ICT freelancers in coworking spaces, utilizing a multivariate ERGM approach. It analyzes how trust and collaboration influence the formation of social support ties and highlights the absence of direct reciprocity or generalized exchange among peers. The findings suggest that successful collaborations enhance trust, which in turn correlates with expectations of support, indicating a complex interplay between professional relationships and social networks.

1. Coworking and Social Support among Peers.
A Multivariate ERGM of Economic and Social Exchange
between ICT Freelancers
Federico Bianchi, Niccolò Casnici and Flaminio Squazzoni
GECS – Research Group in Experimental and Computational Sociology,
Department of Economics and Management, University of Brescia
fe d e r i co . b i a n c h i1 @ u n i m i . it

2. From economic to social exchange
«Under which structural conditions do purely instrumental exchange relations develop into
expressive ones that are valued in their own right?» (Thye, Yoon & Lawler 2002, p. 140)
STRUCTURAL LOGIC
What structural patterns drive the emergence of ties of social support among peers who interact
for business purposes?
• Direct exchange (Lawler, Thye & Yoon 2008)
• Indirect (generalized) exchange (Molm, Collett & Schaefer 2007)
MULTIPLEXITY
How do ties of social support form from previously existing economic relationships?
• Successful negotiated exchange (f.i., professional collaboration) (Lawler, Thye & Yoon 2008)
• trust in risky situation (Molm, Collett & Schaefer 2007)
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3. Talent Garden coworking space
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n 29
Age (average) 32
Seniority (average, months) 20
5
25
Gender
F M
• Freelance workers (6 agencies)  no
formal organizational structure
• Spontaneous collaborations
• No formal status differences
• All in ICT: no relevant differences in
competencies

4. Data collection
Preliminary ethnography
• 2 months participant observation
• Semi-structured interviews to office manager and owners (not included in the survey)
• Aims: (i) adjusting the survey to the context; (ii) maximizing participation by getting
acquainted with subjects
CAPI survey
• 1 interviewer, 4 weeks of total interviewing time
• 30’ time
• 100% response rate
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5. Relations and measurement
Relation Measurement References
Social support
• Material resources
• Expressive resources
Attitudinal and passive:
• Expectations based on
experience
• High contingency of events
van der Poel (1993), Lin (1999), De Lange et al.
(2004), Stoltis et al. (2013)
Professional collaboration
• Incoming work
• Outsourced work
• Common projects
Event-based:
Proxy for actual negotiated
exchanges
Satisfaction for collaborators 1-7 Likert
Trust in business Attitudinal and Passive De Lange et al. (2004), Lusher et al. (2012)
Previous acquaintance Actual
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6. Hypotheses
Hp. 1. If i collaborates with j and positively evaluates him/her, then it is likely that i
expects support from j for non work-related issues
Hp. 2. If i trusts j for business issues, then it is likely that i expects support from j
for non work-related issues
Hp. 3. Expectations of social support are likely to be reciprocated directly
Hp. 4. Expectations of social support are likely to form cycles
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7. Social support
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Statistics Values
# ties 29
# edges 99
Density 0.12
Mean in/outdegree 3.41
Min indegree 0
Max indegree 7
Indegree centralization 0.13
Min outdegree 0
Max outdegree 8
Outdegree centralization 0.17
# reciprocated pairs 25
# transitive triads (030-T) 11
# cyclic triads (030-C) 0

8. Social support: reciprocated ties
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9. Positive collaboration
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Statistics Values
# ties 29
# edges 130
Density 0.16
Mean in/outdegree 4.48
Min indegree 0
Max indegree 11
Indegree centralization 0.24
Min outdegree 0
Max outdegree 12
Outdegree centralization 0.28
# reciprocated pairs 58
# transitive triads (030-T) 0
# cyclic triads (030-C) 0

10. Trust in business
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Statistics Values
# ties 29
# edges 235
Density 0.29
Mean in/outdegree 8.10
Min indegree 0
Max indegree 16
Indegree centralization 0.29
Min outdegree 0
Max outdegree 20
Outdegree centralization 0.44
# reciprocated pairs 64
# transitive triads (030-T) 89
# cyclic triads (030-C) 1

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Multivariate EGM: Support and Trust
Parameters
Social Support Trust in Business
Est. S.E. Est. S.E.
Endogenous effects
Arc -7.289 (1.636)* -2.408 (1.732)
Reciprocity 0.793 (0.639) 0.767 (0.363)*
Simple 2-Path -0.353 (0.200) 0.053 (0.025)*
Popularity (in-degree) -0.422 (0.507) -0.064 (0.573)
Activity (out-degree) -0.296 (0.428) 0.820 (0.460)
Path closure (ATA-T) 0.686 (0.237)* 0.588 (0.207)*
Cyclic closure (ATA-C) -0.137 (0.210) -0.250 (0.109)*
Multiple connectivity (A2PA-T) 0.038 (0.215) -0.048 (0.056)
Multivariate endogenous effects
Entrainment of Support and Trust in business 2.058 (0.444)*
Exchange of Support and Trust 0.853 (0.350)*
Controls
Demographics
Age (sender) 0.057 (0.027)* -0.026 (0.015)
Age (receiver) 0.100 (0.027)* -0.027 (0.018)
Age (homophily) -0.064 (0.032) 0.011 (0.018)
Gender (homophily) 0.054 (0.296) 0.108 (0.167)
Experience
Seniority (sender) 0.007 (0.015) -0.018 (0.007)*
Seniority (receiver) 0.024 (0.016) 0.011 (0.008)
Seniority (homophily) -0.008 (0.014) -0.028 (0.009)*
Exogenous structure
Collaboration (covariate network) 0.928 (0.864) -0.693 (0.593)
Positive Collaboration (covariate network) -0.322 (1.045) 1.348 (0.602)*
Previous Acquaintance (covariate network) 2.021 (0.861)* 1.247 (0.501)*
Agency Co-Membership (covariate network) 0.916 (1.341) 0.659 (0.975)
1. No significant reciprocity
2. Positive transitive closure
3. No significant cyclic closure
STRUCTURAL MECHANISMS FOR SOCIAL
SUPPORT
MULTIPLEXITY
6. High multiplexity between Trust in
Business and Social Support
4. No significant multiplexity between
Positive Collaboration and Social Support
5. Multiplexity between Positive
Collaboration and Trust in Business

12. Conclusions
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1. No evidence of direct (tie reciprocation) nor generalized (cyclic closure) exchange among
peers
2. Emergence of local hierarchiecal clusters in a globally decentralized network: support
expectations seem to self-organize along informal status differences
3. A collaboration between two peers, however successful, is not enough to foster the
development of support ties.
4. A successful collaboration fosters the formation of trust in business, which is highly
correlated with expectations of support. Trust might work as an endogenous mechanisms.

13. Limitations and further developments
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 Cross-sectional data  New measurements?
 Agent-Based Model calibrated on network data:
• Testing the emergence of informal hierarchy
• Avoid homogeneity assumption in ERGM
 Comparison with formal hierarchical organizations

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Thank you for your attention
federico.bianchi1@unimi.it