Trust: A Central Component of Academic Networking

We analyze trust within academic networks and address academics’ perception of trusting relations and network building for academic careers. In the analysis of guided interviews with tenured researchers, our results... [ view full abstract ]

We analyze trust within academic networks and address academics’ perception of trusting relations and network building for academic careers. In the analysis of guided interviews with tenured researchers, our results highlight the impact of a positive and trusting attitude towards network relations to strengthen networks and to thereby further academic careers. In addition, we document the impact of positive outcome from previous trusting relations on subsequent networking activities. Specifically, we find current senior academics who received access to networks early in their careers to generally show a higher disposition to network with current junior faculty. This intertemporal relation seems deeply ingrained in academic networks.