An Empirical Study On Relationship Between Social Networks And The Satisfaction Of Employees

Social network relationship is an important concept of social capital.According to theresearch of network relationship,researchers have developed a systematicmethods.And,the strength of social network is a potential analysis dimensionalities,towhich many scholars pay their attention in their study. From the research ofGranovetter.M and Bian,we may know that different strength of network relationship willcreate different kinds of social capital.With the development of knowledge economy andthe popularization of human-oriented concept,human factor becomes more and moreimportant.Enterprises,as the carriers of economic activity,begin to realize the importanceof "human factor", step into an era of human-oriented management.Therefore,employeessatisfaction which reflects employees need becomes more important.While, human,as asocial animal,can not live out of society. From some aspects,enterprise is another livingenvironment for individuals.The employees in it,like people in society,will build a networkrelationship for themselves.Though this network relationship is not the same as socialnetwork relationship,it will have an effect on employees in it.So,we can analyzeenterprises through the same methods we use in the studying of social network.It is notonly a development of sociology,but also a supplement for understanding thephenomenon that other subjects used to research.This paper, based on the theory ofsocial capital and empirical approach,mainly discusses the relationship between thestrength of network relationship and the satisfaction of employees by empiricalmethods,learns if the network relationship in enterprise will operate and have an effect onthe employees in it in the same way of social network relationship.To be specific,thispaper starting from individual level, considers enterprise as a network carriers,appliesquestionnaire investigation approach to discuss the relationship between strength of network relationship and employee satisfaction.The questionnaire data was obtained from150employees who are from six enterprises.Through analyzing the obtained data,thispaper draws the following conclusions:When other condition is under control,(1)the strength of personal networks employees build in company has a positiveeffect on employees satisfaction.(2)compared to the strong ties across department, strong ties within department hasmore positive effect on the satisfaction of employees.（3）the weak ties,especially the ties within department,which employees build incompany,has a negative effect on employees satisfaction.