Top management team communication networks, environmental uncertainty, and organizational performance: A contingency view

This paper contributes to the top management team (TMT) communication and social network literatures by arguing that environmental uncertainty affects the relationship between TMT network communication patterns and firm performance. This argument is tested with data from 404 TMT executives in 32 firms. The results indicate that as environmental uncertainty increases, concomitant increases in TMT network communication density are necessary for high performance, but unexpectedly, concomitant increases in TMT network communication centrality also are necessary for high performance. These findings and their implications for future research on TMT communication patterns are discussed.