This study tests hypotheses concerning the similarities and differences between men's and women's instrumental, expressive and overlapping work networks. The study's sample was drawn from three organizations representing distinctly different industries. As expected, women and men differed in several structural characteristics of their expressive networks but, with the exception of homophily (i.e. the number of same-sex ties), their instrumental work networks were essentially similar. In addition, there were systematic differences among the work networks of participants employed by the three organizations. The results support the general proposition that both structural differences and sex influence the patterns of people's networks in the workplace, but that a distinction must be made between individual's instrumental and expressive networks. Implications for future research, through the integration of our findings with other researchers, are addressed in the discussion.
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