The Grand Duality: Who Sees Competition within Friendship, and How Do They Perform at Work?

This paper examines the overlap between competition and friendship in networks, an instance of multiplexity that we call the grand duality. We demonstrate that managers differ systematically whether they perceive competition with their friends. Structure matters, in that managers are more likely to see competition among friends who are the same sex, in the same work unit, on the same social rank, and share many common friends (i.e. structurally equivalent). Individual differences in prevention focus and self-monitoring also predict how likely a manager will perceive competition with friends. Recognition of the grand duality matters for networkers, as those who see more competitor friends at work show better job performance, but also experience more turnover in their network.