Using Social Network Analysis to Predict Early Collaboration Within Health Advocacy Coalitions

Abstract

Within coalitions of consumer advocates formed to advance health insurance coverage expansions, engaging in united advocacy activities soon after formation might be an important precursor to attaining coalition effectiveness in shaping policy. In this article, the authors apply social network analysis (SNA) to examine how organizational characteristics and interorganizational relationships related to early collaboration on advocacy activities within advocacy coalitions. All interorganizational relationships the authors assessed were significantly associated with early collaboration in advocacy activities, with communication most associated with the differences in collaboration observed across coalitions. Among organizational characteristics, having more resources—as measured by the number of recent policy maker contacts and being the organization that directly received the grant—were statistically significant. Their findings suggest that even organizations that have not worked together before can become engaged in collaborative activities at a relatively early stage. They also show that SNA techniques can usefully be applied to advocacy evaluations.