Understanding I-Deals through the Social Ledger Lens: The Role of Trust and Hindrance Networks

Individually negotiated customized work arrangements or idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) are an increasingly common practice in contemporary organizations. We propose that these deals are created and implemented in the social context of the workgroup and that one’s position in the web of social relationships serves as a strategic advantage or barrier to accessing i-deals. Drawing on the social ledger model, we propose that being central in the trust network is positively associated with i-deals, whereas being central in the hindrance network is negatively associated with i-deals, with indirect effects on employee performance. Further, we predict that i-deals are affected more strongly by centrality in the hindrance network than by centrality in the trust network. Finally, we theorize that trust network density strengthens the negative relationship between hindrance network centrality and i-deals and that hindrance network density strengthens the positive relationship between trust network centrality and i-deals. Results of multilevel modeling and relative importance analyses in two field studies employing data from 305 employees and 57 supervisors in the United States and 502 employees and 101 supervisors in Iran provided support for our model. Implications and future directions for social network and i-deals research are discussed.