Group formation and social structure: On networks and identities

The role of social networks: A novel hypothesis to explain the phenomenon of racial disparity in kidney transplantation

This chapter applies social identity analysis to social capital theory in order to explain trust and conflict in social networks. It reformulates Putnam's bridging-bonding social capital distinction in terms of the relational social identities-categorical social identities distinction, and represents individuals as socially embedded by explaining them in social identity terms. The goal of the argument is to show how an individual-social group dynamic which social identity theory examines interacts with a conflict-trust dynamic which social capital theory examines. Different types of individual motivation are linked to different social capital-social identity forms. Social group conflict is explained in connection with social psychology's stigma identity-threat model. Individual response to identity conflict is explained in terms of cognitive dissonance reduction.

ObjectivesSocial network analysis focuses on the relationships between people and structures that form through their interactions. Research in the field has shown that people can be influenced by their social...

ObjectivesSocial network analysis focuses on the relationships between people and structures that form through their interactions. Research in the field has shown that people can be influenced by their social...

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Why Do People Join Groups? Three Motivational Accounts from Social Psychology

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In this chapter, the community of inquiry model is used as an analytical framework, along with quantitative content analysis and social network analysis, in order to understand how social and cognitive presence and group structure are affected by the type of learning task and social networks. Discussion forums were employed focusing on three types of tasks: analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Over a period of three academic years, a total of 96 discussion forums were analyzed. Results show how social and cognitive presence are affected by social group structure and centrality of coordinators, depending of type of learning task.

In this research the community of inquiry model is used as an analytical framework, along with quantitative content analysis and social network analysis, in order to understand how social and cognitive presence and group structure are affected by type of learning task and social networks. Discussion forums were employed focusing on three types of tasks: analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Over a period of three academic years, a total of 96 discussion forums were analyzed. Results show how social and cognitive presence, are affected by social group structure and centrality of coordinators, depending of type of learning task.

Identity theory and social identity theory are two remarkably similar perspectives on the dynamic mediation of the socially constructed self between individual behavior and social structure. Yet there is almost no systematic communication between these two perspectivies; they occupy parallel bur separate universes. This article describes both theories, summarizes their similarities, critically discusses their differences and outlines some research directions. Against a background of metatheoretical similarity, we find marked differences in terms of 1) level of analysis, 2) the role of intergroup behavior, 3) the relationship between roles and groups, and 4) salience of social context and identity. Differences can be traced largely to the microsociological roots of identity theory and the psychological roots of social identity theory. Identiy theory may be more effective in dealing with chronic identities and with interpersonal social interaction, while social identity theory may be more useful in exploring intergroup dimensions and in specifying the sociocognitive generative details of identity dynamics.

The Future of Weak Ties

The frequency and type of dyadic social interactions individuals partake in has important fitness consequences. Social network analysis is an effective tool to quantify the complexity and consequences of these behaviors on the individual level. Less work has used social networks to quantify the social structure—specific attributes of the pattern of all social interactions in a network—of animal social groups, and its fitness consequences for those individuals who comprise the group. We studied the association between social structure, quantified via five network measures, and annual reproductive success in wild, free-living female yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer). We quantified reproductive success in two ways: (1) if an individual successfully weaned a litter and (2) how many pups were weaned. Networks were constructed from 38 968 interactions between 726 unique individuals in 137 social groups across 19 years. Using generalized linear mixed models, we found largely no relationship between either measure of reproductive success and social structure. We found a modest relationship that females residing in more fragmentable social groups (i.e., groups breakable into two or more separate groups of two or more individuals) weaned larger litters. Prior work showed that yellow-bellied marmots residing in more fragmentable groups gained body mass faster—another important fitness correlate. Interestingly, we found no strong relationships between other attributes of social group structure, suggesting that in this facultatively social mammal, the position of individuals within their group, the individual social phenotype, may be more important for fitness than the emergent group social phenotype.

The need to fill three gaps in ethics research in a business context sparked the current study. First, the distinction between the concepts of “ethical” and “legal” needs to be incorporated into theory building and empiricism. Second, a unifying theory is needed that can explain the variables that influence managers to emphasize ethics and legality in their judgments. Third, empirical evidence is needed to confirm the predictive power of the unifying theory, the discernable influence of personal and organizational variables, and the importance of the issue to the managers in determining their emphasis on the ethical and legal values of their judgments. Focused on these needs, the current research combines social identity theory with empirical findings from business ethics research. This theory building initiative framed hypothesis-driven research to investigate the influences on managers’ emphasis on ethical and legal values in making business judgments. An empirical research study was conducted involving 252 practicing managers who judged 12 newsworthy business events. Data was collected on the managers’ individual factors, on the groups that influence their judgments, and on the importance that the managers place on ethics and legality in judging the 12 scenarios. The research findings contribute to theory development (1) By successfully utilizing a blended extension of social identity and issue-contingent theories to understand managers’ judgments, and (2) By providing evidence on the relationships between the perceived importance of an issue and the emphases managers place on ethical and legal values in their judgments. The analysis of the data was extended to provide insights on the needs of employers to tailor management training on legal and ethical decision-making. The participating managers were clustered according to their emphases on Ethical Importance and Legal Importance in judging business situations. Analysis of Variance was then combined with Scheffe Multiple Comparison Tests to assess whether the factors derived from a blended extension of social identity and issue-contingent theories were significantly different across the clusters. The product of this analysis is unique sets of attributes that describe each cluster of managers, and provide an empirical basis for determining training priorities. Finally, the carefully constructed and thoroughly tested 12 research scenarios that form the core of the survey instrument enable their redeployment in subsequent research and their use by practicing executives who wish to compare data provided by their managers to results from the study participants.

Analysing age structure, residency and relatedness uncovers social network structure in aggregations of young birds

This study uses social identity theory and communication accommodation theory as lenses to examine former cancer patients’ perspectives of the “survivor” label, replacement labels for their experience, and use of survivor services. Semi-structured interviews of 43 former cancer patients offer insight into their unique cancer experiences and explain how these events influence their perceptions of the term survivor. Coders used constant comparison methods to capture six themes related to the participants’ impressions of the survivor label. When sharing perceptions of the survivor label, participants expressed language that illustrated convergence (It means everything to me), divergence (I don’t like to be called anything), convergence and divergence (Part of me is happy … Part of me is kind of aggravated), and apathy (I have no feelings toward the label). Participants also generated new labels that captured their cancer experiences and six unique themes emerged from these responses. Most of the former cancer patients were aware of survivorship programs; however, relatively few used these programs regularly and cited reasons for nonuse explained by social identity theory.

Through an exhaustive review of the literature, this article looks at the applicability of social network analysis (SNA) in the field of humanresource development. The literature review revealed that a number of disciplines have adopted this unique methodology, which has assisted in the development of theory. SNA is a methodology for examining the structure among actors, groups, and organizations and aides in explaining variations in beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. The article is divided into three main sections: social network theory and analysis, the social network approach and application to HRD. First, the article provides an overview of social network theory and SNA. Second, the process for conducting an SNA is described and third, the application of SNA to the field of HRD is presented. It is proposed that SNA can improve the empirical rigor of HRD theory building in such areas as organizational development, organizational learning, leadership development, organizational change, and training and development.