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Weak tie interactions in networking: five types of interaction structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2024

Georgina Nightingall  and
Weston Baxter
Georgina Nightingall*
Affiliation:
Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Weston Baxter
Affiliation:
Imperial College London, United Kingdom
*
g.nightingall21@imperial.ac.uk

Abstract

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Weak ties contribute to an individual's happiness, health and career, yet networking events supporting weak ties are often considered ineffective and unenjoyable. More support is needed to aid the design of these experiences. This inductive qualitative study explores how weak tie interactions occurred in a 3-day event for a professional networking community. Data was collected from multiple behavioural settings through direct observation, semi-structured interviews and archival data. Results highlight five structures underpinning weak tie interactions and associated implications for design.

Keywords

design researchdesign principleshuman-centred designdesign for human connectivitynetworking events
Type
Design Organisation, Collaboration and Management
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 4: DESIGN 2024 , May 2024 , pp. 325 - 334
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2024.

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