UCL School of Management

Martin Kilduff

Deputy Director (Research)
Professor
Head (Organisations and Innovation)
Office location
Level 38, 1 Canada Square
Rm S5

Biography

Martin Kilduff (PhD Cornell, 1988) is Professor of Organizational Behavior at University College London, former editor of Academy of Management Review (2006-08) and former associate editor of Administrative Science Quarterly (2003-05, 2010-16). Prior to joining UCL he served as Diageo Professor of Management Studies at Cambridge University, and prior to that served on the faculties of University of Texas at Austin, Penn State, and Insead. 

Research

Martin’s work focuses on social networks in organizations and includes the co-authored books Social Networks and Organizations (Sage, 2003); and Interpersonal Networks in Organizations: Cognition, Personality, Dynamics and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2008). 

Martin’s most recent work includes the following three articles. The first examines the personality profiles of people who broker between cliques in organizations (Academy of Management Journal, 2018). The second examines the paradox of people who feel powerful enough to engage in brokerage activities but whose sense of power blinds them to the brokerage opportunities that are available (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2018). The third paper examines how agency has been used in organizational social networks (Academy of Management Annals, 2021).

Other recent research includes an examination of how people get ahead and are subsequently disadvantaged through ties to high-reputation leaders. The research examines coaches’ careers in the National Football League (NFL) over a 31 year period. (Magnification and correction of the acolyte effect: Initial benefits and ex post settling up in NFL coaching careers, 2016, Academy of Management Journal.) 

In the area of social networks and personality, a team of researchers, including fellow UCL academic Blaine Landis, conducted a meta-analysis across 138 network studies. The analysis shows that the self-monitoring personality variable (compared to the Big Five) is crucially important in understanding who emerges as central in organizational networks; and that indegree centrality (i.e., how many other people claim you as a friend or as someone who gives them advice) is more important than brokerage in understanding career outcomes. (“Integrating personality and social networks: A meta-analysis of personality, network position, and work outcomes in organizations,” 2015 in Organization Science.)

These topics – the cognitive and personality foundations of organizational social networks – are reviewed theoretically in two recent conceptual articles, one in Journal of Management (“The micro foundations of organizational social networks: A review and an agenda for future research,” 2015, co-authored with Stefano Tasselli and Jochen Menges); and the other published in Annual Review of Psychology (“Social network analysis: Foundations and frontiers on advantage,” co-authored with Ronald S. Burt and Stefano Tasselli, 2013).

For more on martin’s research see the departmental website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/msi/profile/martin-kilduff/research

PhD supervisor:

Research projects

Personality and social networks

How different personality types create and benefit from social networks in organizations.

Cognition and social networks

People's perceptions of their organizationa social networks are systematically biased, and the bias affects their own and others'' outcomes.

Philosophy of science in new knowledge production

Different scientific frameworks engender different kinds of organizational innovations.

Emotion management in organizations

How do managers monitor and control emotions in organizations, and how do employees respond?

Diversity and performance

A focus on how different types of people combine to produce differential outputs in organizations

Integrating personality and networks at work

How personality and network characteristics influence performance and career success in organizations
Selected publications
Tasselli, S., & Kilduff, M. (2018). When brokerage between friendship cliques endangers trust: a personality – network fit perspective. Academy of Management Journal. doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0856 [link]
Kilduff, M. J., Mehra, A., & Dunn, M. (2011). From blue sky research to problem solving: A philosophy of science theory of new knowledge production. Academy of Management Review, 36, 297-317.
Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. (2010). Organizational social network research: Core ideas and key debates. Academy of Management Annals, 4 (1), 317-357. doi:10.1080/19416520.2010.494827 [link]
Kilduff, M. J., Crossland, C., Tsai, W., & Krackhardt, D. (2008). Organizational network perceptions versus reality: A small world after all?. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 107, 15-28.
Oh, H., & Kilduff, M. (2008). The ripple effect of personality on social structure: Self-monitoring origins of network brokerage. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 1155-1164.
Toegel, G., Kilduff, M., & Anand, N. (n.d.). Emotion helping by managers: An emergent understanding of discrepant role expectations and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 2013.

Link to the publication’s UCL Discovery page