Examining the effect of social influence on student performance through network autocorrelation models

The paper investigates the link between student relations and their performances at university. A social influence mechanism is hypothesized as individuals adjusting their own behaviors to those of others with whom they are connected. This contribution explores the effect of peers on a real network formed by a cohort of students enrolled at a graduate level in an Italian University. Specifically, by adopting a network effects model, the relation between interpersonal networks and university performance is evaluated assuming that student performance is related to the performance of the other students belonging to the same group. By controlling for individual covariates, the network results show informal contacts, based on mutual interests and goals, are related to performance, while formal groups formed temporarily by the instructor have no such effect.