Behind the organizational chart: The emergence of “gurus” in advice networks

Explaining the endogenous emergence of “gurus” – high-status professionals who are referred to for advice but are unlikely to seek it themselves – in organizations requires an integrated approach. This approach must consider the interplay of individual attributes (e.g., skills and status), structural factors (e.g., informal networks), and organizational contexts (e.g., knowledge-sharing infrastructure and internal competitiveness) from a dynamic perspective. In this study, we develop an agent-based model of advice network formation calibrated on an empirically observed network to identify the factors and processes driving “guru” emergence. Our results show that the emergence of “gurus” depends primarily on status differentials, homophily, and organizational context. In low-competitive settings, a relatively stable proportion of “gurus” emerges once the advice network reaches equilibrium. However, as competitiveness increases, network equilibrium is associated with fewer “gurus”, whose emergence is decoupled from formal hierarchical roles. Contrary to common sense, differences in skills among professionals contribute only marginally to network dynamics and “guru” formation. Overall, our findings suggest a fundamental misalignment between formal hierarchies and informal status dynamics within organizations, which could lead to tension.