Social Ties Research Articles

Leveraging Social Ties to Financial Gains: Exploring the Impact of Social Capital in Rural Development

Social capital, defined as networks of individuals linked through bonding or bridging relationships, plays a crucial but poorly conceptualized role in place-based development. The word “capital” implies an underlying value of the social connections throughout a community, and this study explores how these social relationships are used to initiate, plan, access financial capital, and implement economic development projects in rural areas. We avoid county-level aggregation bias and use a divergent pathway case study of projects across eight communities to examine how the social ties are used during rural development in places with both high and low financial capital. Both types of communities had active social networks and were successfully completing projects, but they were sometimes using their ties differently. We find that most projects initiate through bonding social capital. The availability of financial capital within a network significantly influences network ties and their utilization in later steps of rural development projects. Low prosperity communities with limited financial capital are more likely to use bridging ties to leverage new financial resources. High prosperity communities relied on both bonding and bridging ties but had more potential actors, financial resources, and business experience. We find social and financial capital are intertwined, suggesting future efforts to support rural development should consider both types of assets.

Information and communication technology use among social ties of varying strength: Who benefits and how?

Information and communication technology (ICT) use has been associated with well-being among older adults. This link is often attributed to the fact that ICT use facilitates connecting with others. The purpose of this study is to assess how contact frequency and social tie strength impact the relationship between ICT use and depressive symptoms among older adults. Using data from the Detroit-based Social Relations Study collected in 2015, we use Bayesian analyses to examine the extent to which contact frequency with social network members moderates and the strength of these social tie (strong, moderate, and weak) mediate the link between ICT use and depressive symptoms among adults age 60+ (n=483). ICT use was found to be associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Furthermore, ICT use was associated with more moderate and weak ties which were, in turn, associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, a moderating effect was also found as ICT use was associated with fewer depressive symptoms only among those with lower contact frequency. Our findings suggest that for older adults who communicate with others less frequently, ICT use can prove beneficial to mental health (i.e. fewer depressive symptoms). Furthermore ICT use may be especially meaningful to connect with weaker social ties. These findings may be due in part to ICTs capabilities which enable older adults to maintain connection to a diverse array of social ties and bridge social and physical distance.

The Rise and Fall of Student Labour Activism in Authoritarian China

Research has highlighted the contribution of university students to labour movements in non-democracies, but little is known about the processes by which student labour activism arises in these societies. Based on qualitative research conducted in Guangzhou, China, in 2017 and 2018 and insights from social movement theories, this article considers how student labour activism emerges and declines in an authoritarian regime. It argues that student labour activism is a result of favourable political processes, exposure to movement resources, social ties to pro-labour agents, and the influence of movement frames. The article holds that as student labour activism in China was still in an embryonic stage and had not yet developed into a sustainable movement, escalating political threats were able to stifle student labour activism easily both through direct repression and by mediating other movement factors.

Social ties as dynamic managerial capabilities and SME performance: unraveling the role of industrial boundary conditions

Purpose As a contribution to the social ties and dynamic capabilities literature, the purpose of this study is to examine the boundary role of the industrial factors (competitive intensity, dependence on suppliers and demand uncertainty) on the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) social ties (business ties and political ties) and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 1,077 SME top-level managers in Turkiye. The proposed model is analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) path modeling in SmartPLS 4.0 software. Findings The results elucidate how demand uncertainty serve to moderate the influence exerted by both business and political ties upon the performance of SMEs. However, the moderating effects of competitive intensity and dependence on suppliers, although initially hypothesized, were not found to have a significant impact on the relationships. Practical implications The relevance of social ties of SMEs may depend on the industrial factor. Although both political and business ties are effective on the customer side, these ties may become irrelevant when it comes to competition and supplier relations. In competitive SME settings, where businesses are vying for similar markets, the effectiveness of ties might be questionable. In such cases, SMEs might invest in building in-house capabilities and competencies, rather than relying on their relational networks. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of how relational networks, which are considered as dynamic managerial capabilities, impact SMEs performance. It also fills an important gap by testing the boundary role of industrial factors on this relationship. The empirical data is collected from the Turkish context, which is also an original aspect of the study, considering most of the social ties literature has a limited focus on a few contexts. The results also indicate new areas for discussion and exploration, indicating potential avenues for further research.

Barriers to Interaction With New Weak Ties: Are Self‐Presentation Concerns and Forecasts of Benefits Miscalibrated?

Barriers to Interaction With New Weak Ties: Are Self‐Presentation Concerns and Forecasts of Benefits Miscalibrated?

Kinship and Group Solidarity in Determining Victory of the 2020 Pacitan Regent Candidate Pair

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the role of ethnopolitics and kinship solidarity in determining the victory of candidate pairs in the 2020 Pacitan Regency Election, with the aim of understanding the influence of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) as a political patron on voter preferences and political networks. Theoretical Framework: This research is underpinned by concepts of kinship solidarity, ethnopolitics, and political patronage. These frameworks provide a solid basis for analyzing informal political networks and social ties and their influence on local democracy and voter behavior. Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises a qualitative approach utilizing a phenomenological lens. Data collection involved in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis. This multi-method strategy enabled an exploration of the dynamics between kinship solidarity, group solidarity, and political preferences among voters. Result and Discussion: The results revealed that kinship solidarity serves as a social-emotional and informal political network, effectively mobilizing electoral support. SBY's personality strengthens these ties, creating legitimacy beyond traditional program-based campaign strategies. Ideologically driven group solidarity and shared interests also play a crucial role in mobilizing societal elements with collective values. However, risks associated with kinship-dominated politics, such as nepotism and favoritism, were identified as potential threats to meritocracy and local democratic integrity. These findings are contextualized within the theoretical framework, emphasizing the dual impact of such networks on voter behavior and democratic processes. Research Implications: This research highlights practical and theoretical implications, offering insights for designing effective, context-sensitive political campaigns. It also underscores the need for balancing kinship-based networks with merit-based practices to enhance local democratic integrity. These findings are particularly relevant to the fields of political science and public administration. Originality: This study contributes to the literature by providing an in-depth understanding of the integration of social networks and political preferences in Sustainable Cities, particularly in terms of political patronage and access to sustainable resources and voter preferences. This study highlights the strategic role of ethnopolitics in shaping local democracy, offering a new perspective on strengthening democratic practices through community-oriented strategies.

A fuzzy logic approach for tie strength assessment in relationship management: Design and performance comparison of two implemented fuzzy-based models

In an increasingly digitalised and interconnected world, assessing the strength of interpersonal ties in social networks is crucial for fields such as business, marketing and sociology. Traditional methods for evaluating Tie Strength (TS), which often classify relationships as either ”strong” or ”weak”, fail to capture the uncertainty and ambiguity of human interactions. This study proposes a Fuzzy-based System for Assessment of Tie Strength (FSATS). We develop and evaluate two models: FSATSM1, which utilises three input parameters Interaction Time (IT), Level of Intimacy (LoI) and Emotional Intensity (EI); and FSATSM2, where we introduce Reciprocity (Rc) as an additional parameter. Through simulations, we compare the performance of both models for the assessment of TS. The simulation results show that for FSATSM1, when IT is 0.9 and EI is 0.7 for all values of LoI, the TS values are more than 0.5. While, for FSATSM2, when IT is 0.9, for EI 0.1 (Rc more than 0.8), EI 0.5 (Rc more than 0.5) and EI 0.9 (Rc more than 0.2), all values of TS are more than 0.5, indicating a strong relationship. The results suggest that FSATSM2 provides a more accurate reflection of real-world relationships, which can be applied in contexts such as Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM), enabling businesses to enhance customer engagement strategies.

Exploring consumer behavior toward artisanal and industrialized foods through market research

Market research enables the acquisition of important information and data for management and development in the industry. This study aimed to profile consumers based on their preferences for artisanal and industrialized products. This is justified because, with the constant changes in consumers' eating habits, understanding their behavior concerning their knowledge and consumption of these products can be useful in outlining strategies for the sector's development and understanding potential shifts in food consumption. Therefore, this article aims to explore consumers' preferences concerning two types of products (artisanal and processed). For this research, a market survey was conducted using an online questionnaire via the Google Forms platform, which received 100 responses. Data analysis and tabulation were performed using the statistical software R. The participating audience was mostly composed of single women, consumers of both artisanal and processed products, who reported that their emotions directly influenced their food choices. Furthermore, artisanal products are often consumed along with other food types categories of food and have weak ties to other categories classes. Thus, the consumption of artisanal products must offer advantages that meet consumers' demands, in addition to overcoming barriers imposed by non-sensory characteristics such as income, which can be considered one of the main limiting factors.

Face and Favours: Network Norms among Chinese Migrants and Non-Migrants in Australia

ABSTRACT The few theoretical studies comparing guanxi (interpersonal relationships) and social capital suggest that both network types are based on norms of trust and reciprocity, but guanxi is also underpinned by strong and recognisable normative dynamics of renqing (reciprocity) and face. However, there has been little empirical investigation into these differences. We compare networking practices among Australian Chinese migrants (ACMs) and Australian non-migrants (ANMs) via qualitative interviews, showing: (i) ACMs and ANMs use strong and weak ties differently due to normative differences; (ii) ACMs initiate guanxi dynamics with ANMs whenever possible, but ANMs lack cultural knowledge for reciprocation; and (iii) ACMs’ connections to non-Chinese people are consequently not guanxi-based, but grounded in Western social capital.

Indonesian migrant live-in care workers in rural Taiwan: Making friendships, kinships, and creating social capital overseas

Taiwan serves as a main destination for Indonesian females seeking work as migrant live-in care workers. However, being a migrant worker requires efforts to face challenges and difficulties overseas to achieve family well-being. One of them is utilizing social capital. Studies on social capital among migrants tend to be unisex, with a limited focus on women as the main actors. Therefore, it is crucial to examine how these women create and utilize their social capital to fulfill their needs. This paper examines the form of social capital of Indonesian migrant live-in care workers (LCWs) in Taiwan, highlighting their unique characteristics, given the specific nature of their job roles. Using a phenomenological approach, the study involves in-depth research and direct data collection. Data analysis follows a structured process including data reduction, display, verification, and conclusion. This essay finds a new structure in social capital and migration by positioning women as the main actors. It shows that LCWs primarily rely on bonding social capital, forming strong, exclusive friendships often based on geographical proximity, characterized by long-distance and close-distance patterns. Participation in social groups such as pengajian does not enhance LCWs' social capital, resulting in weak ties within bridging social capital. Additionally, LCWs tend to develop stronger relations with their employers, enabling them to access various resources through linking social capital, which differs from bonding and bridging social capital. This essay concludes that LCWs in Taiwan predominantly utilize bonding and linking social capital to achieve their migration expectations.

The Illusion of Meritocracy: Evidence from Provincial Official Promotion in Post-Mao China

ABSTRACT We study the promotion of provincial level officials between 1978 and 2022 and cannot find empirical support for the meritocratic argument. Work ties with top leaders, particularly with the leadership core, have provided provincial officials with advantage in promotion. Methodologically, we use official individual fixed effects to estimate a cleaner effect of social ties and show that previous research has underestimated this impact. This study contributes to the debate about elite politics in contemporary China and offers a firmer empirical grounding for understanding the political foundation of China’s economic policies and overall development.

A multilevel social network approach to studying multiple disease-prevention behaviors

The effective prevention of many infectious and non-infectious diseases relies on people concurrently adopting multiple prevention behaviors. Individual characteristics, opinion leaders, and social networks have been found to explain why people take up specific prevention behaviors. However, it remains challenging to understand how these factors shape multiple interdependent behaviors. We propose a multilevel social network framework that allows us to study the effects of individual and social factors on multiple disease prevention behaviors simultaneously. We apply this approach to examine the factors explaining eight malaria prevention behaviors, using unique interview data collected from 1529 individuals in 10 hard-to-reach, malaria-endemic villages in Meghalaya, India in 2020–2022. Statistical network modelling reveals exposure to similar behaviors in one’s social network as the most important factor explaining prevention behaviors. Further, we find that households indirectly shape behaviors as key contexts for social ties. Together, these two factors are crucial for explaining the observed patterns of behaviors and social networks in the data, outweighing individual characteristics, opinion leaders, and social network size. The results highlight that social network processes may facilitate or hamper disease prevention efforts that rely on a combination of behaviors. Our approach is well suited to study these processes in the context of various diseases.

The Influence of Anonymity and Social Ties on Personal Experience Sharing: A Comprehensive Mixed-Methods Study

Personal experiences are widely shared and varied among types of social media. This study aims to understand how social ties (acquaintance & stranger) and anonymity (real-name & anonymous) of social platforms affect users' willingness to share and post content in dimensions of details, privacy, valence, and arousal. In a scenario-based experimental design, we analyzed 525 posts written by 27 participants under different relationship and anonymity conditions using a comprehensive mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data suggests that relationship and anonymity interact to influence users' self-disclosure: disclosing to acquaintances with real names or to strangers anonymously is more willing. The qualitative evaluation shows that acquaintance platforms have more positive posts with details, and posts on anonymous platforms include more information but with less control of negative valence and arousal. In addition, positive self-experiences shared on social media are more specific and intensive but increase privacy risks. These findings can guide the design of social media to boost ready and safe self-experience-sharing behavior.

El sujeto y el lazo social en Jacques Lacan como un pensar la Modernidad fuera del sujeto moderno

The following paper aims to articulate and tackle, from a theoretical perspective, Jacques Lacan’s understanding of what has been called subject of the subconscious within the social ties. In regards to this matter, it is worth mentioning that an intention of this reflection is to approach to the idea of the subject from the modern perspective and its subversion from psychoanalysis considering the ideas of language and signifier. Finally, some thought will be given to the idea of the position of the split subject within the structure of the social ties, which Lacan will later call “a” little object within the everyday social relationships in the different discourses.

Leadership Behavior of Local Leaders in Cavite’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program

In response to the COVID-19 immunization campaign on-site, this research investigated the leadership behaviors of health officials from Bacoor, Dasmariñas, and Tagaytay. From September 2021 to February 2022, seven health officials were interviewed using a qualitative descriptive case study methodology. Their task-, relations-, and change-oriented behaviors were examined using the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behavior paradigm. In-depth interviews were used to gather data, transcribed, and subjected to axial, in-vivo, and open coding methods for analysis. The findings showed that schedule preparation, rule clarification, subordinate supervision, and proactive issue-solving were all significant examples of task-oriented activities. Although a lack of appreciation for coworkers' efforts was seen, relations-oriented actions included resolving disputes, fostering subordinates' problem-solving skills, and consulting colleagues. Coordination with other local government units (LGUs), creative problem-solving, and motivating subordinates to learn from setbacks were all examples of change-oriented practices. Electronic communication technologies were often used to carry out leadership behaviors, exhibiting flexibility in problem-solving. After difficulties were resolved, health officers reported feeling relieved and having a greater awareness of their strengths and shortcomings. Vaccinees' unfavorable attitudes, however, were shown to have an impact on how they solved problems, highlighting the need for open communication and strict adherence to health center policies. The research emphasizes the need for local health offices to establish recognition programs to recognize the accomplishments of health officers and strengthen their interpersonal ties. Additionally, vaccine orientation before site visits may help improve the overall effectiveness of vaccination programs by minimizing misunderstandings and unfavorable attitudes. This study advances our knowledge of leadership dynamics in health emergencies and emphasizes the vital role that good leadership behaviors play in overcoming public health crises.

Collusive and adversarial replication

I describe a game in which social ties between members of a research community may discourage prospective replicators from debunking papers that misreport results. Here, replication is an entrance decision, as a Replicator chooses whether or not to Replicate a given paper. A high level of social connectedness between members of a research community increases the field-wise False Discovery Rate, a measure of the social welfare associated with a healthy publication process. The moral is that larger, more diverse academic fields with fewer social ties are more likely to have an adversarial culture around replication, and that this improves social welfare. I consider three proposals to improve replication practices: Random auditing, or police-patrol replication; automated unit tests; and a recent proposal to lower the threshold for statistical significance. I argue that random auditing and automated unit tests can improve social welfare, but that the effect of lowering the statistical significance threshold is ambiguous.

Filipino Meme Culture in Reddit: A Social Exchange Theory Application in an Anonymous Online Community

The study explores the dynamics of social exchanges within the r/Philippines subreddit, focusing on how meme culture influence user interactions and engagement. It highlights the significant role of social media in Filipino culture, noting the increasing time spent on platforms like Reddit, which serves as a unique space for community building and cultural expression. Social Exchange Theory (SET) is applied to understand participation behaviors in online communities, emphasizing perceived reciprocity and social capital as critical factors. SET provides a framework for analyzing social interactions, focusing on the perceived costs and benefits that influence user engagement in online communities. The research focuses on posts categorized under the MemePH flair in the r/Philippines subreddit, utilizing publicly accessible data without requiring ethical clearance. A content analysis was conducted to analyze the posted memes, while a thematic analysis was conducted to examine social interactions in the comments section, with classifications established before data collection. The content analysis reveals that memes in the subreddit are primarily categorized as political, propaganda, current events, and dank memes, with humor being a significant driver of engagement. The thematic analysis indicates that perceived community support, exchange ideologies, social ties, and perceived benefits are crucial in motivating users to post and interact within the subreddit.

Social network for guardians of transgender children and adolescents.

To analyze the social network of mothers, fathers or guardians of transgender children or adolescents. This was a qualitative study, based on the theoretical framework of social network, with a focus on the primary network. The study was conducted in Brazil through online interviews between August and October 2021. A total of 30 mothers, two fathers and one grandmother of transgender children or adolescents participated in the study. The thematic content analysis was performed using IraMuTeQ software. The theme "The family as the center of the network and the challenges in achieving transgender autonomy" emerged from the analyses. The family was identified as the first network, bearing the greatest responsibility. Weak and conflicted ties with relatives, friends, classmates and neighbors, highlighting the role of men. The networks showed limitations in providing support and the need for strengthening. The analysis is an important tool for improving care, structuring policies and developing transgender-specific care pathways.

Quality Metrics and Reordering Strategies for Revealing Patterns in BioFabric Visualizations.

Visualizing relational data is crucial for understanding complex connections between entities in social networks, political affiliations, or biological interactions. Well-known representations like node-link diagrams and adjacency matrices offer valuable insights, but their effectiveness relies on the ability to identify patterns in the underlying topological structure. Reordering strategies and layout algorithms play a vital role in the visualization process since the arrangement of nodes, edges, or cells influences the visibility of these patterns. The BioFabric visualization combines elements of node-link diagrams and adjacency matrices, leveraging the strengths of both, the visual clarity of node-link diagrams and the tabular organization of adjacency matrices. A unique characteristic of BioFabric is the possibility to reorder nodes and edges separately. This raises the question of which combination of layout algorithms best reveals certain patterns. In this paper, we discuss patterns and anti-patterns in BioFabric, such as staircases or escalators, relate them to already established patterns, and propose metrics to evaluate their quality. Based on these quality metrics, we compared combinations of well-established reordering techniques applied to BioFabric with a well-known benchmark data set. Our experiments indicate that the edge order has a stronger influence on revealing patterns than the node layout. The results show that the best combination for revealing staircases is a barycentric node layout, together with an edge order based on node indices and length. Our research contributes a first building block for many promising future research directions, which we also share and discuss. A free copy of this paper and all supplemental materials are available at https://osf.io/9mt8r/?view_only = b70dfbe550e3404f83059afdc60184c6.

Transitions-Related Support for Ageing Family Carers of Older People With Intellectual Disabilities Who Convey Behaviours That Challenge Others: A Systematic Rapid Scoping Review.

There are increasing numbers of ageing family carers of older (40+) adults with intellectual disabilities who convey behaviours that challenge others in the UK. It is important to understand the needs and experiences of these carers as they support their older family member to transition to different care contexts. A rapid scoping review of published and unpublished literature, using systematic methods of data searching, extraction and analysis. Exhaustion, reluctance to burden others, distrust of alternative living arrangements and deep interpersonal ties with their family member with intellectual disabilities mean ageing carers can avoid planning ahead. There is a lack of appropriate information, support and professional advice available. Developing trust in services is critical, as is a 'whole family' approach to planning. More research is vital to understand the support ageing carers receive to make choices, and how it meets their needs.