Central Network Positions Research Articles

Sources of Franco-German Corporate Support for the Euro: The Effects of Business Network Centrality and Political Connections

During the Euro crisis of June 2011, 51 representatives of major French and German corporations launched a political campaign in support of the Euro. This study shows that firm size facilitated high-quality business contacts but that variables of economic interest were not associated with a higher probability of campaign participation when controlling for relational variables. Instead, the empirical analysis suggests that Franco-German business-leaders joined the campaign because 1) their central network position provided them with informational resources to transcend the interest of their firm, and 2) their social and political embeddedness either led to an internalization of pro-Euro values or gave them an incentive to improve their long-term reputation with political decision makers who strongly support the Euro as part of the European integration project. Thus, the directors’ corporate and political ties facilitated and motivated corporate political action in support of the Euro.

Social networking in territorial great tits: slow explorers have the least central social network positions

In various animal species individuals differ consistently in their behaviour, often referred to as personality. In several species these personality differences also correlate with differences in social behaviour. This is important as the social environment is a key selection pressure in many animal populations, mediated, for example, via competition or access to social information. Using social network analysis, recent studies have furthered our understanding of the role of personality in the social environment, usually by focusing on swarming or flocking populations. However, social associations in such populations are fundamentally different from those in territorial populations, where individuals meet less frequently and where the costs and benefits of spatial associations differ from those for swarming or flocking species. In this study we therefore tested whether social network position is related to individual differences in exploration behaviour, an established measure of an avian personality trait, using a wild, territorial, personality-typed great tit, Parus major, population. By means of novel, large-scale, automated tracking (Encounternet) we show, while controlling for average territory distance, that slower exploring males had less central social network positions. Yet, slower explorers overall did not travel shorter distances than faster explorers, indicating that a less central social network position was not merely a consequence of lower activity. Finally, males with less central social network positions did not have reduced breeding success compared to males with more central positions. Our results suggest that territorial individuals influence the structuring of their own social environment in relation to their personality. This is relevant, because the establishment of social relations and familiarity with possible competitors is predicted to be important in many territorial populations.

Developmental stress predicts social network position.

The quantity and quality of social relationships, as captured by social network analysis, can have major fitness consequences. Various studies have shown that individual differences in social behaviour can be due to variation in exposure to developmental stress. However, whether these developmental differences translate to consistent differences in social network position is not known. We experimentally increased levels of the avian stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in nestling zebra finches in a fully balanced design. Upon reaching nutritional independence, we released chicks and their families into two free-flying rooms, where we measured daily social networks over five weeks using passive integrated transponder tags. Developmental stress had a significant effect on social behaviour: despite having similar foraging patterns, CORT chicks had weaker associations to their parents than control chicks. Instead, CORT chicks foraged with a greater number of flock mates and were less choosy with whom they foraged, resulting in more central network positions. These findings highlight the importance of taking developmental history into account to understand the drivers of social organization in gregarious species.

Citizen networks in the Garden City: Protecting urban ecosystems in rapid urbanization

Citizen groups can be important actors in urban environmental stewardship, and network structure often influences function and performance. However, most previous studies focus on cities in “developed” countries, thereby overlooking conditions relevant for the parts of the planet where most people live and most urban growth is expected. This paper describes a citizen network engaged in environmental issues in Bangalore, India, where rapid urbanization puts pressure on conventional management structures as well as the ecosystems providing benefits for the city's inhabitants. The study uses a mixed methods approach of qualitative interviews and social network analysis. Results show that the citizen network functions as a platform that enables interaction between diverse interest groups, and as a watchdog that monitors parks, lakes and trees to prevent further loss of fragmented urban ecosystems. The network's activities are influenced by internal tensions between inclusiveness and efficiency, and between internal and external legitimacy. Although core actors have central network positions, strong leadership or political alliances are not considered important; members instead prefer to emphasize transparency and democratic participation. This limits the capacity to act collectively on controversial issues, but creates an inclusive forum that bridges between groups in the heterogeneous and dynamic population. This is important for monitoring Bangalore's fragmented ecosystems and for raising public awareness and support. Findings indicate an urgent need to develop a comprehensive framework for urban environmental stewardship, to better describe potential roles of citizens in governance across diverse social, political and ecological conditions, and during different periods of urban change.

Elite-Driven Community Collective Action and The Issues of Currency Substitutes In the Panic of 1907

This paper develops a theory of elite-driven community collective action. I argue that mobilizing community collective action is an effective way for elites to protect their interests when the state is weak and they face competition from elites in other areas. But their efforts to mobilize community collective action face the barrier of distrust from the rest of the community. Structures that nurture intra-community solidarity and legitimize elites’ actions help elites to overcome this barrier. In particular, elites’ mobilization efforts are more likely to lead to community collective action in places where the economic inequality is low, disparate groups can be bonded by a collective identity, and elites are able to align their proposed institutional programs with the political environment. I find broad support for these propositions in a study of the issues of small denomination currency substitutes during the Panic of 1907. Moreover, supplementary analyses show that elites who occupy central network positions benefit more from community collective action. These elites’ advantages are further strengthened by religious homogeneity and favorable ideologies but are reduced by community inequality.

Forester networks: The intersection of private lands policy and collaborative capacity

Privately owned forestland provides abundant ecosystem goods and services to society at scales beyond the individual forest parcel. However, successful mechanisms to encourage broad-scale management in privately owned, multifunctional, landscapes are relatively limited. In the United States, state agency and private foresters may be poised to help facilitate landscape-scale management given their role as gatekeepers to private landowner incentive programs or emerging markets for ecosystem goods and services. A key question remains as to the collaborative capacity of public and private sector foresters, especially in the face of evolving private forestry incentive programs, some of which have shifted toward public–private partnerships (PPP's). We used qualitative interviews and a social network survey with professional foresters in Northern Wisconsin, an area with a high demand for diverse forest ecosystem services, to identify the structure of current business networks among land managers in the region and characteristics of these relationships that may influence collaboration. Of the nearly 300 different individual professionals identified, most (86%) were state, consulting, or industry foresters, suggesting a relatively homogeneous network of professionals and potential need for other types of natural resource professionals to tie into existing foresters’ networks. We found that central network positions were occupied by all three types of foresters, while the qualitative analysis suggested the private forestry incentive program is likely driving, in part, network configuration. Interviews yielded a nuanced understanding of foresters’ relationships, including the impact of forest policy changes on public–private partnerships and specifically the growing role of private foresters in providing private lands forestry services and the need for successful mechanisms to reduce conflict and improve collaborative capacity among professionals.

Quantifying microbe transmission networks for wild and domestic ungulates in Kenya

Multi-host wildlife pathogens are an increasing concern for both wildlife conservation and livestock husbandry. Here, we combined social network theory with microbial genetics to assess patterns of interspecific pathogen transmission among ten species of wild and domestic ungulates in Kenya. If two individuals shared the same genetic subtype of a genetically diverse microbe, Escherichia coli, then we inferred that these individuals were part of the same transmission chain. Individuals in the same transmission chain were interlinked to create a transmission network. Given interspecific variation in physiology and behavior, some species may function as “super-spreaders” if individuals of that species are consistently central in the transmission network. Pathogen management strategies targeted at key super-spreader species are theoretically more effective at limiting pathogen spread than conventional strategies, and our approach provides a means to identify candidate super-spreaders in wild populations. We found that Grant’s gazelle (Gazella granti) typically occupied central network positions and were connected to a large number of other individuals in the network. Zebra (Equus burchelli), in contrast, seemed to function as bridges between regions of the network that would otherwise be poorly connected, and interventions targeted at zebra significantly increased the level of fragmentation in the network. Although not usually pathogenic, E. coli transmission pathways provide insight into transmission dynamics by demonstrating where contact between species is sufficient for transmission to occur and identifying species that are potential super-spreaders.

Relational Pluralism in De Novo Organizations: Boards of Directors as Bridges or Barriers to Diverse Alliance Portfolios?

This paper develops relational pluralism as a collective construct whose dimensions are heterogeneity, multiplexity, and asymmetry. Relational pluralism is instantiated in the board of directors, whose network of relationships influence a new venture's ability to establish external links beyond the networks of the founding team. We argue that relational pluralism speeds the establishment of a diverse alliance portfolio, which, in turn, speeds the attainment of major revenue milestones in a new firm. We examine these ideas in a population of de novo semiconductor firms and find that diverse alliance portfolios emerge faster when a board includes members with heterogeneous, multiplex relationships, as well as central network positions. However, the asymmetric influence of outside board members can have both positive and negative effects: the alliance formation process is aided by outsiders in central network positions, but impeded when central investors dominate the board. We discuss implications for our understanding of relational pluralism as a collective construct.

Cancer Missense Mutations Alter Binding Properties of Proteins and Their Interaction Networks

Many studies have shown that missense mutations might play an important role in carcinogenesis. However, the extent to which cancer mutations might affect biomolecular interactions remains unclear. Here, we map glioblastoma missense mutations on the human protein interactome, model the structures of affected protein complexes and decipher the effect of mutations on protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid and protein-ion binding interfaces. Although some missense mutations over-stabilize protein complexes, we found that the overall effect of mutations is destabilizing, mostly affecting the electrostatic component of binding energy. We also showed that mutations on interfaces resulted in more drastic changes of amino acid physico-chemical properties than mutations occurring outside the interfaces. Analysis of glioblastoma mutations on interfaces allowed us to stratify cancer-related interactions, identify potential driver genes, and propose two dozen additional cancer biomarkers, including those specific to functions of the nervous system. Such an analysis also offered insight into the molecular mechanism of the phenotypic outcomes of mutations, including effects on complex stability, activity, binding and turnover rate. As a result of mutated protein and gene network analysis, we observed that interactions of proteins with mutations mapped on interfaces had higher bottleneck properties compared to interactions with mutations elsewhere on the protein or unaffected interactions. Such observations suggest that genes with mutations directly affecting protein binding properties are preferably located in central network positions and may influence critical nodes and edges in signal transduction networks.

Social network contingency, symbolic management, and boundary stretching

A firm's structural position within corporate networks may affect the extent to which it engages in boundary stretching practices. Since social norms support low CEO compensation, offering high CEO compensation in China can be seen as a boundary stretching practice. Setting up a compensation committee (CC) may be viewed as a form of symbolic management in China. We argue that firms operating within central corporate network positions opt to pay higher CEO compensation without engaging in symbolic management. On the other hand, firms operating in structural hole positions tend to either pay lower CEO compensation or use CCs as a symbolic management tool in order to pay higher CEO compensation. Our hypotheses are largely supported based on 7,618 firm‐year observations in China. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

179 Impact of cancer mutations on protein binding and activity

Missense mutations play an important role in carcinogenesis, however, their effect on biomolecular interactions remains unclear. We describe a new framework that uses experimental evidence on structural complexes, the atomic details of binding interfaces, and evolutionary conservation to map the set of human protein–biomolecular interactions (Shoemaker et al., 2012; Tyagi et al., 2012). To analyze the impact of missense cancer mutations on protein interactions, we model the affected protein complexes and estimate the change in binding energy upon mutations. We find that although some missense mutations overstabilize protein complexes, overall, they are destabilizing mostly affecting the electrostatic component of binding energy. Our analysis allows to stratify cancer-related interactions, identify potential driver genes, and propose two dozen additional cancer biomarkers. Furthermore, we observe that interactions of proteins with mutations mapped on interfaces have higher bottleneck properties compared to interactions with mutations elsewhere on the protein. This suggests that genes with mutations directly affecting protein-binding properties are preferably located in central network positions and may influence critical nodes and edges in signal transduction networks. Next, we study the mechanisms of aberrant activation of receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer and estimate the effects of single and double cancer mutations on the stability of active and inactive states (Hashimoto et al., 2012). We show that singleton cancer mutations destabilize active and inactive states, however, inactive states are destabilized more than the active ones potentially leading to kinase activation. In addition, more frequent mutations have a higher activating effect. The activation mechanisms of double mutations are found to be quite different from those of single mutations.

"Personality, Social Network Position, and Performance: A Meta-Analysis"

We examine three contested questions concerning the role of personality and social network position in organizations. First, can network position be traced to personality? Second, do personality and network position both predict how well individuals perform at work? Third, is there evidence that network position mediates the relationship between personality and work outcomes? Results from 78 independent samples indicate that personality and network position offer complementary explanations of performance in organizations. Personality traits, especially conscientiousness, extraversion, and self-monitoring, are consistently related to advantageous central network positions. Personality and network position both predict performance, and the effect of personality is generally stronger than that of network position. Further, some evidence suggests that personality relates to performance through its influence on network position. Overall, our results provide meta- analytic support for integrated models of dispositional characteristics and social network position.

Sources of Franco-German corporate support for the euro: The effects of business network centrality and political connections

During the euro crisis of June 2011, 51 representatives of major French and German corporations launched a political campaign in support of the euro. This study shows that firm size facilitated high-quality business contacts but that variables of economic interest were not associated with a higher probability of campaign participation when controlling for relational variables. Instead, the empirical analysis suggests that Franco-German business leaders joined the campaign because (1) their central network position provided them with informational resources to transcend the interest of their firm, and (2) their social and political embeddedness either led to an internalization of pro-euro values or gave them an incentive to improve their long-term reputation with political decision makers who strongly support the euro as part of the European integration project. Thus, the directors’ corporate and political ties facilitated and motivated corporate political action in support of the euro.

TWITTER LINKS BETWEEN POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS

This article analyses a Twitter network of 150 Dutch journalists and politicians in 2010 and shows that Twitter networks have an underlying structure that is more detailed than one would expect from a simple list of followers and following. In-Degree (followers) measures a users' popularity as a news source and Out-Degree (following) measures openness and newsgathering by users and give insights into the structure of this underlying network. Also, the bridging function—being a hub or link—in this network can be clearly identified, and shows how important a person is as a networker. Ego Network analysis may specify these positions and reveal how a single user has links and bridges to central network positions. From the network connections on Twitter between politicians and journalists it cannot be concluded that there is a closed elite like a fully connected group of users controlling information. Journalists and politicians are mutually dependent on each other and how this dependency is constructed is shown by various network centrality measures, specifying their role (source versus news gatherer) and position in the network (being a networker or not). Consociationalism used to be one of the main characteristics of the Dutch political and media structures. Twitter network analysis on a sub-group level shows that contacts on Twitter between reporters and politicians are no longer influenced by religious or ideological identity of parties and media. Finding news and spreading news is the driving force in the Twitter network between politicians and journalists.

Knowledge Sharing and Work Performance: A Network Perspective

Based on a network perspective, in this study we argue that employees can improve their work performance if they occupy central network positions within a company where they can take advantage of knowledge made available by colleagues. We reasoned that the likelihood of knowledge sharing would be increased when employees were perceived to be trustworthy. Participants were 170 employees from 4 companies in Taiwan, and it was found that in-degree and in-closeness centralities within a knowledge-sharing network had significant and positive effects on work performance, and that employees with higher levels of perceived trust were more likely than others to experience an in-degree centrality of knowledge sharing. Our results indicate that the network perspective is a promising approach to the research issue of knowledge sharing.

The role of consumers' network positions on information-seeking behavior of experts and novices: A power perspective

Results from two studies demonstrate that depending on consumers’ network positions (peripheral or central), experts and novices behave differently when seeking information about their networks or products related to those networks. Experts in central network positions (vs. peripheral) seek more network-related information, while novices in the same positions seek more product-related information. In contrast, experts in peripheral network positions (vs. central) seek more product-related information, while peripheral novices seek more network-related information. Findings also suggest that desire for power (social or personal) mediates these relationships. Given the importance of social networks in consumer decision making, this research demonstrates the influence and importance of consumer's network position on information-seeking behavior of experts and novices.

Bad Law Before it Goes Bad: Citation Networks and the Life Cycle of Overruled Supreme Court Precedent

This essay expands the empirical analysis of overruled Supreme Court decisions by including citation network centrality measures and comparative depreciation analysis to compare overruled decisions to matched peers. We demonstrate that those decisions which go on to be overruled tend to occupy more central citation network positions, cite more central cases, and depreciate at a slower rate than similarly influential decisions. These empirical demonstrations of how bad law is distinct in both the way it cites and in the way it is cited help shed light on how the judiciary affects legal change. We see that judges reserve the power of overrulings for decisions that are both significantly more central than their peers and for decisions that remain salient for longer than their peers.

Acquisition of Central Network Position: Roles of Interpersonal Helping and Social Undermining

The authors investigate how individuals’ engagement in interpersonal behaviors toward others--interpersonal helping and social undermining--independently and interactively influence their acquisiti...

Why a Central Network Position Isn't Enough: The Role of Motivation and Ability for Knowledge Sharing in Employee Networks

Contrasting views exist on how network characteristics predict knowledge sharing. Although large, open egocentric networks foster network positions that provide access to nonredundant knowledge, critics have noted that such networks impair knowledge sharing, because trust and reciprocity do not thrive in them. This problem may, however, be resolved by including motivation and ability to share knowledge as moderators of the association between network position and knowledge sharing. Our analysis of 705 employees in a consultancy shows that employees' knowledge acquisition and provision are highest when network centrality, autonomous motivation, and ability are all high, thus supporting the proposed three-way interaction.

A social network analysis of leading semiconductor companies’ knowledge flow network

This study (1) constructs a knowledge flow network for leading semiconductor companies; (2) seeks out how leading semiconductor companies can attain knowledge competencies (through patent activities or network position) via social network analysis; and (3) proposes critical strategic suggestions regarding knowledge flow networks in the industry. The results show (1) that a knowledge flow network with no isolators and Asian semiconductor firms are closely connected with other firms all over the world; (2) that patent activities are positively associated with central network positions and firm performance; (3) that closeness centrality is helpful for patent citation activities and also helps to achieve better performance; and (4) that semiconductor companies in Asia are also closely connected with others in the world.