Multilevel Social Network Research Articles

Associations between social network characteristics and sexual minority disclosure concern among Black men who have sex with men living with and without HIV.

In addition to the pervasive anti-Black racism faced by Black people in the United States, Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) face sexual minority stigma and, among BMSM living with HIV, HIV-related stigma. These multilevel social forces shape social networks, which are important sources of resources, support, and behavior regulation. This study quantitatively examined the relationship between social network characteristics and sexual minority stigma (e.g., homophobia, biphobia), assessed by reported concerns around disclosing one's sexual minority status, among BMSM in Baltimore, Maryland in 2014 (N = 336). A majority of participants (63.7%) reported experiencing medium or high levels of sexual minority disclosure concern. In a multiple linear regression model, participants with higher sexual minority disclosure concern reported lower network density and having fewer good friends who are gay or bisexual men. Stratifying the same multiple linear regression model by HIV status supports the importance of an intersectional understanding of sexual minority and HIV-related stigma. These findings can help health-related programs address the complex relationships between sexual minority stigma, social networks, and HIV status within this multiply-marginalized and high-priority population.

Transactive memory system and green innovation: a cross-level mediation of social network

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the transactive memory system (TMS) on green innovation and examine the mediation role of the social network at all hierarchical levels.Design/methodology/approachThree hypotheses were examined by performing regression analyses on survey data from manufacturing firms in China. Especially, the nested sets of data from 389 individual observations nested in 53 work teams, including individual level and collective level have been investigated.FindingsThe study results show that the TMS has a positive effect on green innovation. Furthermore, the results indicate that at the team level, structure holes' mediation in this relationship is stronger than degree centrality; at the individual level, weak ties mediation in the relationship of specialization and green innovation is stronger than strong ties, conversely, strong ties mediation in the relationship of credibility and green innovation is stronger than weak ties.Originality/valueThis study expands previous research by highlighting the significance of multilevel social network elements in the context of the TMS and sustainable development and enriches the present research on green innovation.

The Effects of Social Networks on Individual Unethical Behavior: A Multilevel Network Perspective

Considering individual unethical behavior as an inherently social phenomenon, we adopt a social network perspective to understand how individuals' connections within a team are predictive of unethical behavior. Drawing on social network perspective, we apply a multilevel social network approach to examine how team network density and individual network centrality affect individual unethical behavior. Analyses of multilevel social network data collected from 1,216 employees in 86 teams in Study 1 demonstrate that individual network centrality and team network density have disparate effects on unethical behavior. At the individual level, centrality in positive networks (i.e., advice and friendship networks) significantly decreases, whereas centrality in negative networks (i.e., avoidance and conflict networks) increases individual unethical behavior. At the team level, density of both team positive and negative networks was positively related to individual unethical behavior. Supporting a cross-level moderating effect, the density of team negative networks weakens the beneficial effects of centrality in positive networks and strengthens the deleterious effects of centrality in negative networks on individual unethical behavior. In Study 2, we replicate and check the robustness of the results of Study 1. Implications of these results for future research and management practice are discussed.

Smart city as a social transition towards inclusive development through technology: a tale of four smart cities

ABSTRACT Smart city initiatives have the potential to address many contemporary urban challenges, utilizing information and technology. Increasingly, smart cities are considered as social innovation processes to achieve sustainable and inclusive urban development, being influenced by broader socio-economic and institutional contexts of cities. This paper explores ‘smart city transitions’ across varied urban contexts, in particular, how smart city transitions are enacted and how they contribute to inclusive urban transformation and public value. Using a multiple case studies approach, the research investigated infrastructure planning practices in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Seoul in Korea, Portland in the U.S. and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in Vietnam, cities that were known for strong efforts to establish integrated platforms to enhance societal benefits. Our analysis showed that each city has addressed its goals around sustainability, equity and affordability by reinforcing the engagement of multiple actors with the support of integrated platforms that facilitate open and multi-directional information flow in a transparent manner. In Amsterdam, innovative solutions for sustainable use of resources have been invented and distributed through multi-level social networks, contributing to the transformation into a circular economy. In Seoul and HCMC, the city's persistent efforts to utilize an open and integrated platform resulted in proactive engagement and collaboration of public and private actors in improving quality, equity and efficiency of transit services. Portland has tackled inequitable access and mistrust issues by setting principles for data governance and facilitating equity in the adoption of innovative technologies. Our research revealed that four cities established different forms of integrated platforms such as a centrally-controlled platform and a community-centred platform in order to address specific socio-economic issues within an institutional setting of each city. We concluded that building an integrated platform is not easy, but it is a critical prerequisite for the process of sustainable transformation to truly achieve smart cities across the globe.

Stakeholders as Value Creators: The Role of Multi-Level Networks in Employee Wellness Programs

Recognizing the inherent limitations of a single level dyadic approach to stakeholders, this research uses a multi-level social networks perspective to examine value creation in wellness stakeholder networks. This study argues that stakeholder interactions at multiple levels of the network create value for the network and contribute to the marketization of wellness. At the macro level, network relationships create value through embeddedness, which shapes the structural boundaries of employee wellness programs. At the meso level, the stakeholders are relationally embedded in their networks and they create social and market congruence. At the micro level, the relationship among embedded actors contribute to the creation of cultural norms and institutionalization of employee wellness programs. The findings add to our understanding of value creation in stakeholder networks by going beyond dyads to focus on multi-level relationships and embedded actors. This article contributes to research by showing how embeddedness of the stakeholders in multi-layered networks and ties between these actors create value in wellness stakeholder networks. The findings provide insights into the marketization process of wellness as an important aspect of the contemporary marketplace.

From Help to Helpful Help: A Social Network Examination of Antecedents and Outcomes of Helpfulness

Utilizing a multilevel social network design, the current study demonstrates the importance of helpfulness, an understudied aspect of helping behavior, in predicting key individual outcomes (i.e., ...

Applying the Disclosure Decision-Making Model to suicide-related disclosure: A theory-informed multilevel social network analysis

Applying the Disclosure Decision-Making Model to suicide-related disclosure: A theory-informed multilevel social network analysis

Beyond Ethnic Diversity: The Role of Teacher Care for Interethnic Relations

Drawing on the role of teachers for peer ecologies, we investigated whether students favored ethnically homogenous over ethnically diverse relationships, depending on classroom diversity and perceived teacher care. We specifically studied students' intra- and interethnic relationships in classrooms with different ethnic compositions, accounting for homogeneous subgroups forming on the basis of ethnicity and gender diversity (i.e., ethnic-demographic faultlines). Based on multilevel social network analyses of dyadic networks between 1299 early adolescents in 70 German fourth grade classrooms, the results indicated strong ethnic homophily, particularly driven by German students who favored ethnically homogenous dyads over mixed dyads. As anticipated, the results showed that there was more in-group bias if perceived teacher care was low rather than high. Moreover, stronger faultlines were associated with stronger in-group bias; however, this relation was moderated by teacher care: If students perceived high teacher care, they showed a higher preference for mixed-ethnic dyads, even in classrooms with strong faultlines. These findings highlight the central role of teachers as agents of positive diversity management and the need to consider contextual classroom factors other than ethnic diversity when investigating intergroup relations in schools.

Determinants of Protective Behaviour Adoption and the Implications for Health Authorities During a Pandemic

International Journal of Medicine and Public Health,2020,10,4,189-197.DOI:10.5530/ijmedph.2020.4.41Published:November 2020Type:Original ArticleDeterminants of Protective Behaviour Adoption and the Implications for Health Authorities During a PandemicMickaela Jordan Nixon, and Mona Jafari Koshkouei Mickaela Jordan Nixon1,3,*, Mona Jafari Koshkouei2,3 1Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 2Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 3St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Abstract:Introduction: Health authorities across the world have implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing measures and hand hygiene campaigns in response to COVID-19. However, the adoption of health-protective behaviour by individuals in alignment with these interventions, although effective, is variable. Results: Evidence suggests that increases in perceived disease severity, disease susceptibility and intervention efficacy correlate with the adoption of protective behaviours. Additionally, external cues from select, credible sources promote behavioural adoption whilst barriers to behavioural change, such as the opportunity cost faced by the employed, dissuade adoption. Lastly, demographic and socioeconomic factors play a role with men, the young, those with lower educational status and those less socially connected being less likely to adopt protective behaviours. Conclusion: For health authorities, an understanding of these correlates can better inform efforts to increase adherence to NPIs and stem novel viral transmission. Approaches such as risk personalisation, the communication of evidence-based effects of interventions and education regarding lesserused behaviours (e.g., mask-wearing) are discussed. Also highlighted is the importance of consistent communication via local actors such as General Practitioners and the role of multilevel social networks. Lastly, the need for tailored efforts to enhance protective behaviour adoption in specific sub-populations is considered. Keywords:Behaviour, COVID-19, Health belief model, PreventativeView:PDF (278.48 KB)

Social influence or selection? Peer effects on the development of adolescents’ educational expectations in Germany

Educational expectations are a key predictor of educational attainment. Throughout adolescence, friends increasingly function as ‘significant others’ and, thus, can affect the development of these expectations. Although scholars often interpret the clustering of students with similar expectations within friendship networks as the outcome of peer influence, a similarity of friends can also be a result of friendship selection processes and preselection due to ability tracking. We apply multilevel social network models to panel data of adolescents from Germany (1,992 ninth-grade students in 91 classes) to disentangle these mechanisms. Beyond selecting similar friends (homophily), we find that adolescents adapt their expectations towards the average expectations of their friends (social influence) but only in secondary-school tracks that support diverse educational paths. We conclude that peer socialization is important for the development of students’ educational expectations in contexts that are sufficiently heterogeneous to allow for the emergence of distinct peer milieus.

No Longer an Island: A Social Network Intervention Engaging Black Men Through CBPR.

The aim of this study was to assess outcomes from a multilevel social network intervention to promote the health of Black men. Through a community–academic collaboration and using a participatory research approach, we implemented the intervention over 4 years in a 110-block area of an urban neighborhood. The project aimed to implement a neighborhood peer outreach and leadership network to strengthen social support of Black men and increase community and family engagement. Intervention activities included three 12-month intergenerational peer support groups (N = 46), a door-to-door outreach campaign (N = 186), media and communication efforts, and a community partner network. Primary outcomes for the peer support groups were measured using a pretest/posttest cohort design and included social support, perceived stress, social capital, and global self-esteem. Primary outcomes for the door-to-door outreach campaign were measured using a repeated cross-sectional design and included a sense of community, neighborhood social interaction, perceived neighborhood control, and self-rated health status. Significant findings from the peer support groups included an increase in social support overall (p = .027), driven by improvements in guidance, reliable alliance, and reassurance of worth; and an improvement in perceived stress (p = .047). Significant findings from the door-to-door outreach campaign included increases in neighborhood social interaction (p < .0001) and perceived neighborhood control (p = .036). This project provides evidence that a participatory approach to planning and delivering a health promotion intervention aimed at creating positive social spaces and enhancing social connections can result in significant outcomes and successful engagement of Black men.

From idea endorsement to idea implementation: A multilevel social network approach toward managerial voice implementation

Endorsing employee voice is one thing; implementation of endorsed ideas is another. Although organizational research has paid increasing attention to examining managers’ psychological endorsement of employee voice, the factors that can affect managers’ actual implementation of endorsed employee voice remain unclear. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we develop a conceptual model of managerial voice implementation and conceptualize it as a manager’s planned behavior that is affected by the manager’s motivation, felt obligation, and perceived control in relation to implementation. We further apply social network approaches to explain how social network characteristics across multiple levels in the team (i.e. dyadic ties, network centrality, and network closure) can facilitate the manager’s psychological impetus for voice implementation – transforming endorsed voice into managerial practices in the workplace. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this manager-centric and social network-based framework of managerial voice implementation.

Consumers Team Detection Model Based on Trust for Multi-Level

Due to rapid advances in technology, social networks have become important platforms for daily communication, product marketing, and information dissemination. Targeted delivery of social network advertisement can considerably improve the efficacy of the advertisement and maximize the profits from it. In this context, managing the specific audience of a social network advertisement and achieving targeted advertisement delivery have been the ultimate goals of the social network advertising sector. Identifying user groups with similar properties is critical to increasing targeted sales. When both the scale of mobile social network and the coplexity of social network user behaviors grow, similar groups are hidden in user behaviors. In order to analyze community structure with user trust relationship more appropriately in the large-scale multilevel social network environment, a novel local community detection model E-MLCD is proposed in this paper. It is jointly based on the multilevel properties and the strength of similarity of multilevel social interaction among communities. By studying three real-world multilevel social networks and specific QQ Zone marketing data, the model defines a new metric of community trust based on similarity. Comparison between other state-of-the-art detection methods demonstrate E-MLCD’s ability to detect communities more effectively.

The Lead Igniter: A Longitudinal Examination of Influence and Energy Through Networks, Efficacy, and Climate

Purpose: The social aspect of leadership is often overlooked in the educational reform. This study aims to address the dearth of work in the social space around leadership and examines two different types of relational ties between leaders that capture the affective and work-related aspects of interpersonal relationships. Research Method: This study takes place in one large urban school district serving a highly diverse student population and investigates a multiplex relation—energy and work-related influence—from a longitudinal dataset to better understand the complex nature of social ties. Descriptive statistics, multilevel social network modeling, and network sociograms are used to understand the characteristics of this over-time multiplex relationship among central office and site leaders. Findings: Drawing on social network theory, efficacy, and climate, findings suggest that gender, work level, experience, efficacy, and climate are associated with leaders engaging in this multiplex relationship over time. Conclusion and Implications: Investigating the intersection of both affective and instrumental relationships provides a nuanced and more reality-based picture about a complex set of leadership ties and perceptions as they go about improving educational systems.

Integrating food security and biodiversity governance: A multi-level social network analysis in Ethiopia

Integrating food security and biodiversity conservation is an important contemporary challenge. Traditionally, food security and biodiversity conservation have been considered as separate or even incompatible policy goals. However, there is growing recognition of their interdependence, as well as of the need to coordinate solutions across multiple policy sectors and levels of governance. Despite such recognition, there has been no empirical analysis of governance networks that specifically integrates food security and biodiversity. Focusing on southwestern Ethiopia, this paper used social network analysis to investigate three main questions: how stakeholders interact in the governance of food security and biodiversity in a multi-level governance context; how the goals of food security and biodiversity are integrated in such a multi-level governance context; and which stakeholders are popular and play connecting roles between stakeholders in the governance network. The study was conducted in a subsistence dominated farming landscape, where we interviewed 244 stakeholders ranging from local to national levels. We found that the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation was strongly hierarchical, with virtually no horizontal linkages between adjacent districts, and very few vertical direct interactions of stakeholders spanning two or more levels of governance. Introducing a novel analytical distinction of collaborative vs individual integration, we found that only a minority of the collaborations between stakeholders took both food security and biodiversity into account, despite the majority of actors being individually involved in both sectors. Stakeholders with positional power, sociological power (popularity) and formal authority played a liaison role in the governance network. To further improve integration of food security and biodiversity conservation, a governance network that harnesses stakeholder collaboration across sectors and governance levels is essential. However, given the central role of many government administrative organizations, possible problems of power capture by some stakeholders need to be carefully managed.

Neither Here nor There? How the New Geography of Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship Disadvantages African Americans

AbstractRecent research shows that the foreign born utilize both local and long-distance social relationships to become entrepreneurs, affecting immigrants’ chances at upward mobility and their contributions to economic development. Scholars have yet to assess how African American entrepreneurs take part in similar types of geographically dispersed business communities. Using multi-level social network analyses and OLS regressions to compare the geography of buyer-supplier ties originating from one immigrant neighborhood and one African American neighborhood in Chicago, this article highlights a unique mechanism that places African Americans at a disadvantage compared to immigrants: a lack of geographic diversity in African American social capital. Immigrant entrepreneurs’ social networks, unlike African Americans’ networks, connect the foreign born to more people in different places, enabling them to circumvent the limitations of their local communities and accrue more business assets. Contrary to existing research, many foreign-born business owners in this study relied on intra-national rather than local or transnational social ties. These findings challenge researchers to reevaluate the geographic foundations of immigrant and African American entrepreneurship and reexamine how ethnic minority entrepreneurship affects patterns of social stratification and economic development.

Examining horizontal and vertical social ties to achieve social–ecological fit in an emerging marine reserve network

Abstract Most MPA networks are designed only with ecological processes in mind to increase their conservation utility. However, since MPA networks often involve large geographic areas, they also affect and involve multiple actors, institutions, and policy sectors. A key challenge when establishing an effective MPA network is to align the ‘social system’ with the biophysical MPA network (the ‘ecological system’). This challenge is often denoted as ‘social–ecological fit’. Facilitating collaborative social interactions among various actors and stakeholders (social connectivity) is equally as important as accomplishing ecological connectivity. New analytical approaches are required to effectively examine this ‘social’ dimension of fit. An emerging marine reserve network in Jamaica and the recent invasion of Indo‐Pacific lionfish are used as a case study to: (1) examine the extent to which horizontal and vertical social ties bring local and national actors together to collaborate, coordinate, and share knowledge; and (2) assess the extent to which different attributes and features of such multilevel social networks may enhance or inhibit particular aspects of social–ecological fit. Findings suggest that multilevel linkages have played the greatest role in relation to enhancing fit in the marine reserve network in the context of the recent lionfish invasion. However, the long‐term propensity of the multi‐actor and multilevel networks to enhance social–ecological fit is uncertain given the prevalence of weak social ties, lack of a culture of information sharing and collaboration, and limited financial resources.

Tied to the Common Core

Purpose: Researchers and scholars have called for greater attention to collaboration among and between educational leaders in districtwide reform. This work underlines the important social aspect of such collaboration and further investigates the type of professional interaction among/between district and school leaders particularly around the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and characterizes such interaction by key factors. Research Method: The work takes place in one school district of more than 30 schools serving students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. Descriptive statistics, multilevel social network modeling, and network sociograms are used to understand the characteristics of professional interactions around CCSS implementation among district and site leaders. Findings: The findings indicate similarities and differences in characteristics of leaders who likely seek CCSS advice and leaders who likely provide that CCSS advice. Leader self-efficacy in implementing the CCSS positively explains the likelihood of both seeking and providing advice behaviors, and yet other factors (organizational learning, leadership, job satisfaction, and CCSS beliefs) each makes different contributions to the likelihood of seeking and/or providing the CCSS advice. Conclusion and Implications: This work suggests a discrepancy of leaders’ perceptions between advice seekers and providers, signaling a need for closing the perception gap between advice seekers and providers such that the leadership team could better craft coherent norms of collaboration in instructional improvement. Understanding the “why” of CCSS advice ties may help guide leaders toward the “how” to align professional and social aspects of change.

Methodology of complex security for the person and social groups against the negative information-psychological influence

Information and psychological security is an important component of information security, which determines the security of citizens and society from harmful information and psychological influences. The latest events in our country and around the world affected by the fact that the provision of information and psychological security of person and social group defined among the main factors countering external threats. The paper proposes a methodology for comprehensive security for human and social groups as the subjects of information security from negative information-psychological impact. It applies to an individual subject, to social groups (structured and unstructured), to the subjects, which are adapted to the organized social environment, and to the single and multi-level social networks.

The Influence of Gender, Age, Matriline and Hierarchical Rank on Individual Social Position, Role and Interactional Patterns in Macaca sylvanus at ‘La Forêt des Singes’: A Multilevel Social Network Approach

A society is a complex system composed of individuals that can be characterized by their own attributes that influence their behaviors. In this study, a specific analytical protocol based on social network analysis was adopted to investigate the influence of four attributes (gender, age, matriline, and hierarchical rank) on affiliative (allogrooming) and agonistic networks in a non-human primate species, Macaca sylvanus, at the park La Forêt des Singes in France. The results show significant differences with respect to the position (i.e., centric, peripheral) and role (i.e., implication in the network cohesiveness) of an individual within a social network and hence interactional patterns. Females are more central, more active, and have a denser ego network in the affiliative social network tan males; thus, they contribute in a greater way to the cohesive structure of the network. High-ranking individuals are likely to receive fewer agonistic behaviors than low-ranking individuals, and high-ranking females receive more allogrooming. I also observe homophily for affiliative interactions regarding all attributes and homophily for agonistic interactions regarding gender and age. Revealing the positions, the roles, and the interactional behavioral patterns of individuals can help understand the mechanisms that shape the overall structure of a social network.