Social network variance and organizational outcomes: a comparison across individuals exhibiting varying degrees of autism-related traits

Abstract

There is limited research on the social networks of working individuals who possess characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to identify differences in ego-networks based on the presence of ASD symptoms and examine how these differences affect an individual's organization-based self-esteem and level of perceived social support. Participants were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. They completed an online survey measuring ASD characteristics, workplace social network composition (i.e. size and structure of network), organization-based self esteem, and perceived social support. We hypothesize that the social networks will be positively related to our two outcome measures, Autism will be negatively related to social network variables, and that social networks will mediate the relationship between Autism and our two outcome measures. Partial support was found for our hypotheses. Social capital appears to be the best predictor or workplace outcomes, and serves as a mediator between the relationship of perceived organizational support and ASD. Limitations and suggests for future research are discussed.