Browsing by Subject "Peer Influence"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Peer Influence on Undermining Behaviors in the Workplace: A Social Network Perspective.
    (2010-05) Fang, Ruolian
    In organizations, social networks (e.g., friendship and communication) not only facilitate individual communication in an organizational landscape but also are salient arenas where individuals influence one another when they determine work-related attitudes and behaviors. In this thesis, I argue that organizational friendship and communication networks can function in unwanted ways that foster (rather than inhibit) social influence among organizational members to engage in social undermining behaviors. I integrate the network theory of social influence into extant work on social influence of undermining behaviors in the workplace and propose that (1) network peers influence individuals' social undermining such that level of network peer undermining is positively related to individual undermining and (2) contextual characteristics (behavioral and structural characteristics of social networks) and personality traits (self-monitoring and core self-evaluation) further condition the network peer influence. In addition, I articulate three network-based proximity influence mechanisms--direct contact, group cohesion, and structural equivalence--whereby network peers influence individuals' undermining behaviors. I did not find support for the relationship between level of network peer undermining and individual undermining; but the relationship is found to be contingent on the contextual characteristics and personality traits. I also found that the three influence mechanisms contribute to similarity on undermining among organizational members. I discuss the implications as well as limitations and future directions of this thesis.
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    Peer influence on weight related behaviors during the transition to college.
    (2011-08) Wlaschin, Jhon
    The transition to college is an especially vulnerable time for young adults to gain weight. Peers are likely to be a source of influence when young adults begin to form habits concerning their eating and physical activity. This study examined social influences on weight related behaviors using dyadic growth curve analysis of data from 95 young adult roommates assessed 3 times during their freshman year of college. Initial after dinner snacking behavior was highly concordant when roommates first met but became less concordant as the semester progressed suggesting an impression management effect. Perceptions of partner's diet and exercise values predicted actor's change in after dinner snacking behavior controlling for the perceived norms of friends and other students on campus. This was also true for breakfast skipping indicating a significant effect of interpersonal socialization. Further, roommates tended to directly influence each other's sedentary behavior. TV watching and computer use became more concordant over time particularly for females and roommates who developed close relationships. Amount of actor exercise at baseline also predicted changes in partner's sedentary behavior over 10 weeks of living together. These effects were moderated by gender and relationship quality such that women were more likely to be motivated by impression management concerns and roommates with closer relationships were more likely to mutually influence each other through socialization. The results are some of the first to demonstrate social influence of eating behavior among young adult peers in real world settings without the confound of selection bias.