Network Building Behaviors of U. S. and Central Eurasian Leaders: Role of Institutional Background and Individual Factors

This paper undertakes a comparative examination of contextual and individual-level antecedents to network building behaviors of leaders. Taking insights from social network and motivation theories, the proposed model suggests that while the institutional environment plays an important role in shaping individuals’ network building behaviors, there are certain individual attributes — such as individuals’ volitional tendencies and networking efficacy levels — that moderate the relationship between institutional backgrounds and networking behaviors of individuals. Using hierarchical regression models to test the hypotheses on a sample of ninety leaders from the Post Soviet countries and the United States, the results obtained highlight the roles of context and individual attributes in network building behaviors of leaders.