Bridging, brokerage and betweenness

Abstract

Valente and Fujimoto (2010) proposed a measure of brokerage in networks based on Granovetter's classic work on the strength of weak ties. Their paper identified the need for finding node-based measures of brokerage that consider the entire network structure, not just a node's local environment. The measures they propose, aggregating the average change in cohesion for a node's links, has several limitations. In this paper we review their method and show how the idea can be modified by using betweenness centrality as an underpinning concept. We explore the properties of the new method and provide point, normalized, and network level variations. This new approach has two advantages, first it provides a more robust means to normalize the measure to control for network size, and second, the modified measure is computationally less demanding making it applicable to larger networks.