Poverty, social networks, and clientelism

Why are the poor susceptible to clientelism, and what factors shield them from the influence of vote buying? We explore the role of both formal and informal social networks in shaping the likelihood of being targeted with private inducements. We argue that when the poor lack access to formal social networks, they become increasingly reliant on vote buying channelled through informal networks. To test our theory, we build the informal, family-based network linkages between voters and local politicians spanning a city in the Philippines. We then collect survey data on formal network connections, electoral handouts, and voting behaviour of 900 voters randomly drawn from these family networks. We show first that campaigns disproportionately target poorer voters. We then show that familial ties further influence targeting among poor voters. Finally, we show that access to formal networks such as workers’ associations mitigate voter fears of punishment for failing to reciprocate.

This paper is a comparative study of formal and informal social networks and their effects on subjective well-being in Australia, Britain, and China. Formal social networks are measured by group affiliations, and informal social networks are measured by personal connections with kin, friends, and acquaintances. An analysis of the national representative sample surveys from the three countries shows that the formal networks are of notable importance in increasing people’s subjective well-being in Britain and urban China, but the informal networks have much greater impacts in all three countries, particularly in rural China. We propose a cultural–structural interaction framework to explain the observed differences in the network influence on subjective well-being in the three countries.

How did the economic crisis impact social capital in European societies? The empirical studies conducted so far provide contradictory conclusions about the strength and direction of its influence. We argue that to better understand the effects of the economic crisis on social capital (social trust, formal and informal networks) it is crucial to examine both its impact on people’s economic situation and the way it reshaped the relationship between individuals and political institutions and altered key political factors (political trust, the welfare state, political activism). Our analysis of European Social Survey data between 2006 and 2012 shows that changes in social trust were smaller than in formal and informal social networks. It also confirms that political factors played an important mediating role in producing these changes: changes in social trust and formal networks can especially be explained by the impact of the political factors, while variations in informal networks are mainly due to the changing economy. Moreover, the analyses show that while the economic crisis generally lowered social capital, some mechanisms such as a sense of togetherness and left-wing political activism, enhanced social capital.

With the recent trend toward collaborative governance, governmental and nongovernmental actors are actively engaged in the environmental governance in China, forming formal and informal networks in this process. While existing research has mostly examined the formation of either formal or informal networks, few studies have examined the influence of formal networks on the formation of informal networks. This article examines the collaborative environmental governance network in China by studying the relationship between formal networks and informal networks. We conduct the research in the empirical context of local water governance in Dongguan city of Guangdong province, China. With survey data collected from 31 municipal departments, 32 town governments, 9 water-related private business and 5 NGOs, we test the hypothesis with Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) regression analysis. The results indicate that formal network does affect and contribute to the formation of informal network, and actors within the formal network are more likely to build informal relationships in environmental governance.

Chinese city governments have collaborated increasingly to address regional environmental issues by participating in informal and formal collaborative networks. However, collaboration among cities involves collaboration risks. This study investigates how cities strategically select collaborative partners in informal and formal networks in the context of the Yangtze River Delta in China. This study addresses this question by assessing the nature of collaborative problems in the informal and formal networks, the extent of homophily in actors’ preferences, and their relationship multiplexity. Findings from Exponential Random Graph Analysis demonstrate: (1) city governments tend to connect to the popular actor and create relationship closure in the informal network, while only forging relationship closure in the formal network; (2) homophily (in water pollution) and heterogeneity (in air pollution) jointly affect city governments’ choices of collaborative partners in the formal network; and (3) the presence of relationship multiplexity wherein the formation of formal ties is built between city governments with pre-existing informal interactions. The findings advance our knowledge of collaborative partner selection and local collaborative governance in China.

Infant crying influences the caregiver and the broader caregiving environment. In this study, cry acoustics were recorded and acoustically analyzed from a sample of fullterm and preterm infants at 40 weeks gestational age, along with the medical risk and socioeconomic status (SES) of the family. Following factor analysis of the cry acoustics, cry factors, along with medical risk and SES were used to predict patterns of social support in the informal (family, friends) and formal (health care providers) social support networks at 44 weeks gestational age. One cry factor, temporal patterning, indicative of the influence of respiratory factors on the infant's cry, predicted a significant amount of variance in the amount of support from the informal network, beyond that predicted from medical risk and SES. Medical risk alone predicted the amount of contact with the formal network, and SES predicted satisfaction with help from the formal network. There were different patterns of relationship between cry acoustics and social support for families with term and preterm infants, indicating that caregivers may interpret and respond to different information in the acoustics of their infants' cries. These findings have implications for understanding how infant crying and behavior influence the caregiving environment and for the clinical management of early cry problems in families with infants differing in risk status. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The primary aim of this research is to examine the impacts of the interplay between formal and informal institutions on procurement innovation, and in turn, on project performance. In construction, firms, professionals, or individuals, all under the same project-based organization (PBO) umbrella, interact with each other according to different formal institutions associated with a particular procurement system. In recent years, researchers have begun to emphasize the parallel importance of informal institutions. The two types of institutions are characterized by the designed formal networks and the actual informal networks. The informal networks are the organization’s “central nervous system”, and must be appropriately fitted with the formal networks as the organization’s “skeleton”, so that the organizational productive engine could be fully steamed. In this research, the central research hypothesis is: The greater the extent of “fit” between the formal and informal institutions associated with an innovative procurement system, the better the project performance will be. 
\nThe essential part of the methodology is the mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, and the mixture of plural research methods, including case studies, interviews, questionnaire/survey, archival study, field study, correlational analysis, and Social Network Analysis. Three case studies were conducted; Case Alpha is a public infrastructure project procured by the procurement systems Construction Management, Cases Beta 1 and Beta 2 are two public housing projects procured by Design-Bid-Build, and Case Gamma is a building project procured by Turnkey. The data collected through mixed research methods was fed into the SNA software package Ucinet and R. It was found that the better the fit between the SNA metrics (e.g. density, average path length, diameter, degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, local and global clustering coefficient) of formal and informal social networks of a PBO, the better the project performance. The hypothesis to the central research question is confirmed.
\nTo the best of my knowledge, this is the first study to articulate the interplay of formal and informal institutions in construction procurement innovation and its impacts on project performance, particularly by using the social network approach. In this study, the extent of “fit” is visualized and measurable, and thus its impact on project performance can be empirically examined. Another theoretical contribution of this research lies in its translation of the interplay between formal and informal institutions under different procurement systems into social networks. Practitioners can use this approach to periodically diagnose their procurement systems with a view to continuously improving their project performance, and, whenever possible, intervene to solve these problems.

Social networks play an important role in environmental governance regimes, and they are a key to the adaptive capacity of systems that deal with complex, contextual and multi-faceted issues. Urban water systems are typical examples of complex systems facing many pressures, such as increased population, water quality deterioration, and climate change. This paper explores social networks of the key stakeholders engaged in urban water management, in Makassar City, Indonesia, in the context of exploring ways to improve management of an increasingly complex urban water system. Three social networks were explored; those constituted by formal and informal interactions and networks perceived by stakeholders to be “ideal”. Formal networks were identified through an examination of the legislative instruments and government agencies’ documents relating to water provision in Makassar, while the informal and “ideal” networks were investigated in collaboration with the stakeholders. The research found that the informal social network was more extensive than were the formally required networks, and the investigation of informal networks created a potentially more robust and adaptive water management system than would have occurred through inclusion of formal institutional arrangements. We suggest that in examination of the adaptive capacity of an urban water system, one also considers the informal arrangements and linkages, as this additional information about the system is necessary to enhance our understanding of potential adaptation of water management and improved urban water systems.

CONTEXTEnhancing farm resilience has become a key policy objective of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to help farmers deal with numerous interrelated economic, environmental, social, and institutional shocks and stresses. A central theme in resilience thinking is the role of the unknown, implying that knowledge is incomplete and that change, uncertainty, and surprise are inevitable. Important strategies to enhance resilience are exploiting social capital and learning as these contribute to improved knowledge to prepare farmers for change. OBJECTIVEThis paper explores how social capital and learning relate to farm resilience along the dimensions of robustness, adaptation, and transformation. METHODSWe study the resilience of Dutch arable farmers from the Veenkoloniën and Oldambt using a combination of four methods. Qualitative data from semi-structured farmer interviews, focus groups, and expert interviews are combined with quantitative data from farmer surveys. The qualitative data are analysed using thematic coding. Non-parametric tests are used to analyse the quantitative data. Based on methodological triangulation, we mostly find convergence in our qualitative and quantitative datasets increasing the validity of our findings. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe results reveal that social capital and learning help farmers to adapt and are, in certain cases, also related to robustness and transformations. Robust farmers often learned by exploiting farmers' informal social networks, primarily relying on bonding social capital to acquire knowledge about agriculture or develop financial skills. Farmers undertaking adaptation are characterised by bonding and bridging social capital obtained by formal and informal networks, are early adopters of innovation, and have high self-efficacy. Combinations of bridging and linking social capital from formal networks could foster farmers to learn new ideas and critically reflect on current farm business models. These learning outcomes relate to farm transformations. SIGNIFICANCEThis study provides some early results on the dynamic relationship between farmers' social capital and learning and how these concepts are associated with resilience. Our findings are relevant for agricultural policy makers, as we provide recommendations on how social capital and learning have some potential to facilitate farm adaptation and transformation and improve information exchange in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).

Purpose Our study explores the relations of formal and informal network ties in acquiring financial, knowledge and human resources from a social network theory perspective in a low-income country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) marked by institutional voids and limited resources. Design/methodology/approach We collect network data on 154 Nepalese entrepreneurs to unravel the resource acquisition dynamics stemming from formal and informal network ties. We analyze the data using social network analysis and node-level regression. Findings Our findings reveal the critical relationship between formal and informal networks in resource acquisition for entrepreneurs in low-income countries with limited resources. The utilization of formal and informal network ties depends on the institutional context and the availability of resources. Entrepreneurs utilize formal network ties to bridge networks and informal network ties to establish interconnected relationships. Entrepreneurs employ both ties within a strong institutional presence, leading to higher network centrality. Conversely, weak institutional structures result in scattered and fragmented networks. Originality/value Our study fills a gap in the literature by examining the relationship between entrepreneurs’ formal and informal network ties for resource acquisition in a resource-scarce, low-income country context. We highlight the significance of networks and offer valuable empirical insights using social network analysis, making our study unique and methodologically informative.

Use of mammography screening among older Samoan women in Los Angeles county: a diffusion network approach

Migrant workers' social networks are an important source of social support in their collective behavior. This study adopts the whole network method and proposes a measure of accumulated social capital in social networks, which makes up for the insufficiency of direct social capital. It compares the heterogeneous effects of formal and informal networks and accumulated and direct social capital on migrant workers' collective behavioral willingness and dissects their interaction mechanism. The results indicate that informal networks are more conducive to collective behavioral willingness. The formal network is the regulator of the informal network, which can strengthen the effect of the informal network on migrant workers' collective behavioral willingness. Accumulated social capital more robustly affects collective behavioral willingness than direct social capital. Therefore, optimizing the measurement of social capital can help to grasp the social effects of social capital more comprehensively. To sum up, fully stimulating the role of informal network center members as a communication bridge between factory and ordinary migrant workers is conducive to promoting the positive coupling of formal and informal networks and improving governance efficiency.

Organizing large R&D collaborations in such a way as to maximize time and budget efficiency often seems to be an impossible proposition. Our study addresses this phenomenon by investigating two large R&D collaborations in the aerospace industry, whereas previous studies have typically investigated the formally ascribed design interfaces and the informal communication networks from separate viewpoints, we integrate these two perspectives and examine the structure and alignment of both. In our study, two large R&D collaborations were examined involved in the development of telescopes for the space industry. Our empirical analyses result in three important findings. First, the informal networks in both large R&D collaborations are far more dense than the formal networks and the alignment between formal and informal networks in large R&D collaborations is rather small. Second, network efficiency is far higher in the formal network than in the informal network, and third, investigating the effect of the units' network efficiency on time and budget efficiency, we find that both are positively impacted by the network efficiency of units in large R&D collaborations. Our findings also indicate that informal networks can be managed toward higher time and budget efficiency by way of various team sizes, and especially, the formal positioning of units.

Healthy dietary profiles contribute to successful aging, and dietary intake is dependent upon food procurement capabilities. Both formal and informal social networks can contribute to grocery shopping capabilities and methods of food procurement. This investigation explores the role of informal networks in food procurement methods among adults aged 65 years and older, and compares differences across eight European countries. Food shopping ways (FSW), identified by quantitative analysis (cluster analysis and correspondence analysis), guided the content qualitative analysis which was carried out addressing three main research questions addressing food shopping routines, feelings of dependency and needs of informal support for shopping, and differences between past and present food shopping behaviours. Living circumstances influence food shopping habits. Informal networks differed between two groups of individuals: those living alone and those living with others. Gender differences emerged in shopping pleasure. Geographical factors were associated with preference for shopping companions, attitudes toward receiving support, and availability of a car for shopping. The importance of living circumstances (i.e., alone vs. with others) in FSW was revealed. Informal social networks may play an important role in public health and welfare policies, particularly given the increase in this demographic group. Assistance with grocery shopping and the availability of trained personnel could widen informal networks, and effective informal networks may be an important supportive service for older adults. The comparison across countries highlighted relationships between food procurement capabilities and social networks. These findings may be used to develop resources to better meet the nutritional needs of older adults.

This study examines how the overlap between informal and formal networks in the workplace is related to the degree of attachment for individuals in work organizations. Two types of informal networks, identified by their content and structure, are commonly found in work organizations: Friendship networks and trust networks. Both the content of networks and the coupling (or overlap) of individual member networks with formal authority networks are important for two kinds of attachment, organizational identification and organizational internalization. Data from a survey of employees in five, small, start-up organizations were collected during 1997 and early 1998. Tight coupling between friendship networks and formal authority networks is found to have a strong positive relationship to organizational identification. Tight coupling between trust and formal authority networks is also found to be strongly and positively related to both organizational identification and internalization. Additionally, tight coupling between trust networks and formal authority networks is more influential in predicting identification than coupling between friendship networks and formal authority networks.