The Network Architecture of Human Capital: A Relational Identity Perspective

Abstract

Managing constellations of employee relationships is a core competency in knowledge-based organizations. It is timely, then, that human resource management scholars and practitioners are adopting an increasingly relational view of human resources. Whereas this burgeoning stream of research predominantly positions relationships as pathways for the transmission of resources, we shift attention by spotlighting that the interplay between human resource practices and informal relationships perforates deeper than resource flows; it also influences how individuals view and define themselves in the context of their dyadic and collective relationships. Moreover, because human resource practices routinely involve human capital movement into, within, and out of the organization, these practices have implications for the network architecture of organizations. We integrate the social network perspective with the theory of relational identity to present a relational theory of human resource management that informs how modifications to internal social structures stimulated by human resource practices can influence individual outcomes by transforming individuals’ self-concepts as relationships are gained, altered, and lost.