The Application of Social Network Theory During a Pandemic

2022 ◽  
pp. 188-203
Author(s):  
Nashrawan Taha ◽  
Azzah Al-Maskeri

This chapter provides a theoretical overview of social network theory, given the widespread of social media during the COVID-19 outbreak. It mainly focuses on three social network theories (the social capital and structural halls, the strength of weak ties, and the small-world). It gives insights into how different researchers have examined these theories during the pandemics and how they have been used in exchanging and communicating information during pandemics. In addition, it reviews previous research concerning how epidemic propagation often happens based on these theories.

Author(s):  
Rahma Oussi ◽  
Wafi Chtourou

Purpose This study aims to investigate the theoretical limitations of the social network theory applied on employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach By combining the social network theory and componential model of creativity, this study studies the possible impact of social capital through its three dimensions (structural, relational and cognitive dimension) on individual creativity, to explore then the moderating effect of cognitive style as individual characteristic on the structural dimension of social capital such weak ties and employee creativity. Findings The results show that, on a sample of 95 employees belonging to four companies in the IT sector, predictions based on the social network theory are only weakly verified. Indeed, the relational and cognitive dimensions of social capital do not have a significant impact on individual creativity. Originality/value Based on Kim et al.’s (2016) call for future research, this study extends the assumptions of the social network theory announcing that social capital through its structural dimension may have an identical impact on individual creativity in all circumstances.


2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Marzena Fryczyńska

The purpose of this article is to show the social network analysis as the perspective of human capital evaluation. It presents interrelation between the social and human capital, the brief introduction to social network theory and its analyzing method. However, social network analysis (SNA) is the method to evaluate social capital, the author pointed out the possible SNA metrics essential in the human capital evaluation. The article shows the SNA and human capital in the individual perspective – ego. It provides the idea of the human capital evaluation in broader and more precise way.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlika Anindya Putri

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a structural equation model to explain the complexrelationship between social network and firm performance by introducing the mediating role of trust, sellingcapability and pricing capability.Design/methodology/approach – The research model with hypothesis development was derived basedon the literature. To provide empirical evidence, this study carried out a survey in which the data wereequated with a list of questionnaires with a random survey of 380 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) inthe Indonesian context.Findings – This study indicates that the use of social media in management process will not affect theincreasing firm performance, unless the firms build trust upon social networks. The social network with trustallows the firms to gain a pricing capability and a selling capability, which brings a positive impact on firmperformance. The results also show that the selling and the pricing capabilities become essential following theutilizing the social media, which concerns on trust building.Research limitations/implications – This study focused on the small-to-medium context, which hasconventionally provided an exemplary site for the development of social capital theory but raises issues ofgeneralizability across different contexts.Practical implications – To the managers, it is advisable to encourage their employees to consciouslyexploit the selling capability by enhancing the business networks via social media to achieve the firmperformance.Originality/value – This paper contributes to the social capital theory by explaining the mediating role oftrust in the complex relationship between social network and firm performance. This study provides evidencethat trust plays a pivotal role in social networks, which enable the observed firms to achieve the performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 2685-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Utz

This article uses a social capital framework to examine whether and how the use of three types of publicly accessible social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) is related to professional informational benefits among a representative sample of Dutch online users. Professional informational benefits were conceptualized as the (timely) access to relevant information and being referred to career opportunities. The effect of content and structure of the respective online network on professional informational benefits was examined on the general (users vs. non-users of a platform) and more fine-grained level (within users of a specific platform). Overall, users of LinkedIn and Twitter reported higher informational benefits than non-users, whereas the Facebook users reported lower informational benefits. Posting about work and strategically selecting ties consistently predicted informational benefits. The network composition mattered most on LinkedIn; strong and weak ties predicted informational benefits. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the social capital framework.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTEO CARLETTI ◽  
SIMONE RIGHI ◽  
DUCCIO FANELLI

In this paper, we show that the small world and weak ties phenomena can spontaneously emerge in a social network of interacting agents. This dynamics is simulated in the framework of a simplified model of opinion diffusion in an evolving social network where agents are made to interact, possibly update their beliefs and modify the social relationships according to the opinion exchange.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 356-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaberi Gayen ◽  
Robert Raeside ◽  
Ronald McQuaid

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of social networks, and the social capital embedded in them, to secure employment if someone had become unemployed after the age of 50 years and to reveal the process of accessing and mobilising that social capital. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a Scottish labour market was undertaken which involved an interview-based survey of those who became unemployed in their early 50’s and tried to regain employment. The interview had structured and unstructured parts which allowed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare those who were successful in regaining work with those who were not. The uniqueness of the paper is the use of social network components while controlling for other socio-economic and demographic variables in job search of older workers. Findings Those older people who were unemployed and, returned to employment (reemployed) had a higher proportion of contacts with higher prestige jobs, their job searching methods were mainly interpersonal and the rate of finding their last job via their social networks was higher than those who remained unemployed. Both groups mobilised social capital (MSC), but those reemployed accessed higher “quality” social capital. “Strong ties”, rather than “weak ties”, were found to be important in accessing and mobilising social capital for the older workers who returned to employment. Research limitations/implications This work is limited to a local labour market and is based on a small but informative sample. However, it does show that policy is required to allow older people to enhance their social networks by strengthening the social capital embedded in the networks. The results support the use of intermediaries as bridges to help compensate for older people who have weak social networks. Besides the policy implications, the paper also has two distinct research implications. First, the use of social network component to the existing literature of older workers’ job search. Second, exploring the type and relational strength with network members to explain older workers’ reemployment. Practical implications The paper illustrates that how accessed and MSC can be measured. Social implications As populations age, this work points to an approach to support older people to re-enter employment and to include them in society. Originality/value The paper extends social network and employment literature to fill gaps on how older people require to both access and mobilise social capital. The importance of “strong ties” in the reemployment of older workers contrasts with much of the literature on younger workers where the “strength of weak ties” so far has been regarded as essential for successful job search. Measures are forwarded to reveal the relevance of social capital. The policy value of the work is in suggesting ways to facilitate older people re-enter or remain in work and hence sustain their well-being.


Upravlenie ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-132
Author(s):  
Shahanaz Parven

The subject of the study is the social network theory for the management of international migration. The theory suggests that migration from the society of origin to the hosting society can occur if links exist between these two societies, and that the flow of migrants follows the established links. The theoretical prediction which one can make is that, if the political administration wishes to establish a flow of migrants between any two societies, a link between these two societies must be established first. The author tested the theory on the case of managing the emigration of workers by the government of Bangladesh. The paper found that, firstly, the links between the origin society and the host society were created artificially, however, in contrast to the theoretical forecast, the author observed that such links usually do not correspond to the geographical distribution of maximum proximity to origin or destination society. Instead, the study revealed, that the closeness of communication between two societies is generated by the proximity between political administrations of the same societies, which contradicts the theoretical expectations. In this regard, the author proposed to expand the theory of international migration in the social network, suggesting that the proximity between two political administrations, and not between two societies as a whole, is a condition necessary for international migration. This, in turn, allows us to fill a theoretical gap that is associated with the relationship between social network theory and the management of international migration. The paper concludes that it is possible to generate arbitrary migration flows, creating appropriate links between any two societies.


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