Networks in the Knowledge Economy

In today's de-layered, knowledge-intensive organizations, most work of importance is heavily reliant on informal networks of employees within organizations. However, most organizations do not know how to effectively analyze this informal structure in ways that can have a positive impact on organizational performance. Networks in the Knowledge Economy is a collection of readings on the application of social network analysis to managerial concerns. Social network analysis (SNA), a set of analytic tools that can be used to map networks of relationships, allows one to conduct very powerful assessments of information sharing within a network with relatively little effort. This approach makes the invisible web of relationships between people visible, helping managers make informed decisions for improving both their own and their group's performance. Networks in the Knowledge Economy is specifically concerned with networks inside of organizations and addresses three critical areas in the study of social networks: Social Networks as Important Individual and Organizational Assets, Social Network Implications for Knowledge Creation and Sharing, and Managerial Implications of Social Networks in Organizations. Professionals and students alike will find this book especially valuable, as it provides readings on the application of social network analysis that reflect managerial concerns.

Author(s):  
Ryan Light ◽  
James Moody

This chapter provides an introduction to this volume on social networks. It argues that social network analysis is greater than a method or data, but serves as a central paradigm for understanding social life. The chapter offers evidence of the influence of social network analysis with a bibliometric analysis of research on social networks. This analysis underscores how pervasive network analysis has become and highlights key theoretical and methodological concerns. It also introduces the sections of the volume broadly structured around theory, methods, broad conceptualizations like culture and temporality, and disciplinary contributions. The chapter concludes by discussing several promising new directions in the field of social network analysis.


Social networks fundamentally shape our lives. Networks channel the ways that information, emotions, and diseases flow through populations. Networks reflect differences in power and status in settings ranging from small peer groups to international relations across the globe. Network tools even provide insights into the ways that concepts, ideas and other socially generated contents shape culture and meaning. As such, the rich and diverse field of social network analysis has emerged as a central tool across the social sciences. This Handbook provides an overview of the theory, methods, and substantive contributions of this field. The thirty-three chapters move through the basics of social network analysis aimed at those seeking an introduction to advanced and novel approaches to modeling social networks statistically. The Handbook includes chapters on data collection and visualization, theoretical innovations, links between networks and computational social science, and how social network analysis has contributed substantively across numerous fields. As networks are everywhere in social life, the field is inherently interdisciplinary and this Handbook includes contributions from leading scholars in sociology, archaeology, economics, statistics, and information science among others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. e20-e20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Leonard ◽  
Debbie Horsfall ◽  
John Rosenberg ◽  
Kerrie Noonan

ObjectiveTo identify the position of formal service providers in the networks of those providing end-of-life care in the home from the perspective of the informal network.MethodsUsing third-generation social network analysis, this study examined the nature and strength of relationships of informal caring networks with formal service providers through individual carer interviews, focus groups of caring networks and outer network interviews.ResultsService providers were usually highly valued for providing services, equipment, pain management and personalised care for the dying person plus support and advice to the principal carer about both caring tasks and negotiating the health system. However, formal service providers were positioned as marginal in the caring network. Analysis of the relative density of relationships within networks showed that whereas relationships among family and friends had similar density, relationships between service providers and family or friends were significantly lower.ConclusionThe results supported the Circles of Care model and mirror the perspective of formal service providers identified in previous research. The research raises questions about how formal and informal networks might be better integrated to increase their effectiveness for supporting in-home care.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronel Davel ◽  
Adeline S. A. Du Toit ◽  
Martie M Mearns

Social network analysis (SNA) is being increasingly deployed as an instrument to plot knowledge and expertise as well as to confirm the character of connections in informal networks within organisations. This study investigated how the integration of networking into KM can produce significant advantages for organisations. The aim of the research was to examine how the interactions between SNA, Communities of Practice (CoPs) and knowledge maps could potentially influence knowledge networks. The researchers endeavour to illustrate via this question that cultivating synergies between SNA, CoPs and knowledge maps will enable organisations to produce stronger knowledge networks and ultimately increase their social capital. This article intends to present a process map that can be useful when an organisation wants to positively increase its social capital by examining influencing interactions between SNA, CoPs and knowledge maps, thereby enhancing the manner in which they share and create knowledge.


Author(s):  
Mohana Shanmugam ◽  
Yusmadi Yah Jusoh ◽  
Rozi Nor Haizan Nor ◽  
Marzanah A. Jabar

The social network surge has become a mainstream subject of academic study in a myriad of disciplines. This chapter posits the social network literature by highlighting the terminologies of social networks and details the types of tools and methodologies used in prior studies. The list is supplemented by identifying the research gaps for future research of interest to both academics and practitioners. Additionally, the case of Facebook is used to study the elements of a social network analysis. This chapter also highlights past validated models with regards to social networks which are deemed significant for online social network studies. Furthermore, this chapter seeks to enlighten our knowledge on social network analysis and tap into the social network capabilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-454
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Fox ◽  
Kenneth J. Novak ◽  
Tinneke Van Camp ◽  
Chadley James

Extant research suggests that membership in crime networks explains vulnerability to violent crime victimization. Consequently, identifying deviant social networks and understanding their structure and individual members' role in them could provide insight into victimization risk. Identifying social networks may help tailor crime prevention strategies to mitigate victimization risks and dismantle deviant networks. Social network analysis (SNA) offers a particular means of comprehending and measuring such group-level structures and the roles that individuals play within them. When applied to research on crime and victimization, it could provide a foundation for developing precise, effective prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies. This study uses police data to examine whether individuals most central to a deviant social network are those who are most likely to become victims of violent crime, and which crime network roles are most likely to be associated with vulnerability to violent victimization. SNA of these data indicates that network individuals who are in a position to manage the flow of information in the network (betweenness centrality), regardless of their number of connections (degree centrality), are significantly more likely to be homicide and aggravated assault victims. Implications for police practice are discussed.


Author(s):  
Diane Harris Cline

This chapter views the “Periclean Building Program” through the lens of Actor Network Theory, in order to explore the ways in which the construction of these buildings transformed Athenian society and politics in the fifth century BC. It begins by applying some Actor Network Theory concepts to the process that was involved in getting approval for the building program as described by Thucydides and Plutarch in his Life of Pericles. Actor Network Theory blends entanglement (human-material thing interdependence) with network thinking, so it allows us to reframe our views to include social networks when we think about the political debate and social tensions in Athens that arose from Pericles’s proposal to construct the Parthenon and Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis, the Telesterion at Eleusis, the Odeon at the base of the South slope of the Acropolis, and the long wall to Peiraeus. Social Network Analysis can model the social networks, and the clusters within them, that existed in mid-fifth century Athens. By using Social Network Analysis we can then show how the construction work itself transformed a fractious city into a harmonious one through sustained, collective efforts that engaged large numbers of lower class citizens, all responding to each other’s needs in a chaine operatoire..


Author(s):  
Xianchao Zhang ◽  
Liang Wang ◽  
Yueting Li ◽  
Wenxin Liang

To identify global community structures in networks is a great challenge that requires complete information of graphs, which is infeasible for some large networks, e.g. large social networks. Recently, local algorithms have been proposed to extract communities for social networks in nearly linear time, which only require a small part of the graphs. In local community extraction, the community extracting assignments are only done for a certain subset of vertices, i.e., identifying one community at a time. Typically, local community detecting techniques randomly start from a vertex and gradually merge neighboring vertices one-at-a-time by optimizing a measure metric. In this chapter, plenty of popular methods are presented that are designed to obtain a local community for a given graph.


Author(s):  
Michele A. Brandão ◽  
Matheus A. Diniz ◽  
Guilherme A. de Sousa ◽  
Mirella M. Moro

Studies have analyzed social networks considering a plethora of metrics for different goals, from improving e-learning to recommend people and things. Here, we focus on large-scale social networks defined by researchers and their common published articles, which form co-authorship social networks. Then, we introduce CNARe, an online tool that analyzes the networks and present recommendations of collaborations based on three different algorithms (Affin, CORALS and MVCWalker). Through visualizations and social networks metrics, CNARe also allows to investigate how the recommendations affect the co-authorship social networks, how researchers' networks are in a central and eagle-eye context, and how the strength of ties behaves in large co-authorship social networks. Furthermore, users can upload their own network in CNARe and make their own recommendation and social network analysis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document