Embeddedness In Social Networks Research Articles

Research on English Reading Motivation and Its Influencing Factors in Social Network Environment

Abstract Reading plays a pivotal role in English language acquisition, with the motivation for reading critically influencing both readers’ attitudes and students’ competencies. This study develops an English reading model predicated on a social network-enabled reading mechanism and investigates the impact of English reading motivation through the lens of social network embedding. The research focuses on English readers’ reading motivation, employing five scales: structural embeddedness, relational embeddedness, reading goals, reading interest, and reading motivation. Data were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling to elucidate the influence mechanism of English reading motivation from the perspective of social network embeddedness. The results indicate that the path coefficients for the impact of structural and relational embedding within social networks on English reading goals are statistically significant at the 0.05 level, with values of 0.152 and 0.133, respectively. Furthermore, the path coefficient linking English reading goals to English reading interest is 0.335, and the coefficient from reading interest to reading motivation is 0.542, both of which are significant at the 0.001 level. The findings suggest that engaging in English reading activities through social networks can substantially boost readers’ interest in reading, thereby facilitating the achievement of their reading goals.

Epidemic effects in the diffusion of emerging digital technologies: evidence from artificial intelligence adoption

The properties of emerging, digital, general-purpose technologies make it hard to observe their adoption by firms and identify the salient determinants of adoption. However, these aspects are critical since the patterns related to early-stage diffusion establish path-dependencies which have implications for the distribution of the technological opportunities and socio-economic returns linked to these technologies. We focus on the case of artificial intelligence (AI) and train a transformer language model to identify firm-level AI adoption using textual data from over 1.1 million websites and constructing a hyperlink network that includes >380,000 firms in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We use these data to expand and test epidemic models of inter-firm technology diffusion by integrating the concepts of social capital and network embeddedness. We find that AI adoption is related to three epidemic effect mechanisms: 1) Indirect co-location in industrial and regional hot-spots associated to production of AI knowledge; 2) Direct exposure to sources transmitting deep AI knowledge; 3) Relational embeddedness in the AI knowledge network. The pattern of adoption identified is highly clustered and features a rather closed system of AI adopters which is likely to hinder its broader diffusion. This has implications for policy which should facilitate diffusion beyond localized clusters of expertise. Our findings also point to the need to employ a systemic perspective to investigate the relation between AI adoption and firm performance to identify whether appropriation of the benefits of AI depends on network position and social capital.

On the Dynamics of Kinship in Migration Processes: Some Perspectives from Historical-Anthropological Studies on North Macedonian migrants in Austria

Abstract: Based on two case studies of immigrants from North Macedonia to Vienna, this article sheds light on the dynamics of kinship in the migration process with regard to immigration, settlement and post-migration. The authors argue that the embeddedness in close trans-local social networks facilitates the access to accommodation and jobs; it also enables a certain degree of psychosocial well-being through mutual support and appears to be advantageous when setting up businesses and homeland associations. By placing kinship at the center of attention, it is essential to acknowledge its cultural diversity in order to avoid western-centric concepts of kinship that differ from concepts predominant in parts of southeastern Europe.

The impact of social network embeddedness on mobile massively multiplayer online games play

AbstractSocial factors play a critical role in motivating player participation and commitment to online multiplayer games. Many popular mobile massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) adopt social network embeddedness (SNE) functions to optimise players' social play experience. SNE changes the traditional pattern of MMOG social play by porting acquaintance relationships (e.g., Facebook friends) from social networking sites to the virtual game world. However, little understanding exists on how SNE impacts mobile MMOG players' game participation results such as play performance and play frequency. Drawing on the affordance framework and social capital literature, this research proposes a theoretical model that integrates the factors of SNE technology affordance (identity transparency and information transparency), players' social experience (social interaction, social support, shared vision, and social pressure), plus affordance effects (play performance and play frequency). The model was validated through a longitudinal field study, in which both subjective and objective data were collected from Game for Peace players. Our findings indicate that identity transparency and information transparency positively correlate with social interaction, social support, shared vision, and social pressure, which, taken together, significantly affect play frequency. The results also show that social interaction and shared vision positively impact players' play performance. The study enhances the theoretical understanding of social relationships in players' game participation results from the SNE aspect. Finally, we lend insights on how game operators can improve player game experience and stickiness.

What's in Stock? Drug drought anticipation during COVID-19 among people who use drugs and service providers.

As with other areas of life, drug markets have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. This article examines how structurally vulnerable people who use drugs (PWUD) experienced and adapted to changes in street drug markets caused by lockdown measures. The article builds on ethnographic fieldwork in two Danish cities in 2020, including in-depth interviews with 22 PWUD, and interviews with 20 service providers, including low-threshold service providers and outreach workers. The most consistently reported effect of lockdown measures on local drug markets related to increases in cannabis prices. Accounts of changes in drug availability varied greatly, with some participants reporting changing availability while others described the situation as similar to pre-lockdown conditions. Rather than a long-term drug shortage, changes reported by participants related to the anticipated disruption of local markets and drug scarcity, restrictions in access to cash and sellers seeking to capitalize on the crisis. Although no long-term drug scarcity was seen, the anticipation of a shortage was sufficient to impact on local drug market dynamics. Heterogeneity in PWUDs' experiences of access to drug markets during lockdown can to some degree be explained in terms of their varied embeddedness in social networks. While local markets proved resilient to lockdown measures, PWUD less embedded in social networks were more vulnerable to shifts in drug availability and to sellers' over-pricing of drugs.

The lesser of two evils: Approaching trust with Bourdieu’s habitus

ABSTRACT In this paper I borrow from sociological scholars and theories in order to approach trust(ing) with Bourdieu's habitus. I demonstrate the use of a conceptual framework comprised of three sociological theories in the context of a subset of women in urbanising Türkiye who belong to, what I call, a gecekondu habitus. Throughout this paper I discuss the necessity of viewing interpersonal trust in the context of lived experiences, which enables us to see the nuanced ways trust might express itself in unexpected ways. Specifically, I suggest that utilising Bourdieu's habitus is one way to centre and situate context in trust research. By using Bourdieu's habitus along with theories of social reproduction and social capital I position my study on interpersonal trust in context, elucidate the gecekondu habitus, and with empirical examples illuminate nuances of trust and vulnerability noting its embeddedness in social networks. Ultimately in this paper I show how layering sociological theories as lenses highlights a nuanced view of trusting for women that expresses itself in two ways: (1) trust as choosing between vulnerabilities in difficult choices; and (2) the process of trusting (in assessing trustworthiness) functioning similarly to social capital a la Bourdieu and Coleman.

The role of social network embeddedness and collective efficacy in encouraging farmers’ participation in water environmental management

Water environmental management (WEM) has a significant influence on the global ecological balance. As an institutional innovation, the River Chief System (RCS) in China has achieved a positive short-term impact on addressing water environmental problems. However, its effects are limited in rural China. As a type of public good, the rural WEM demands the active participation not only of government but also of farmers. Based on the social cognitive and social network theory, this study empirically investigates how rural social networks promote farmers' participation in WEM. Using the survey of 860 farmers in the Yellow and Yangtze River Basin, we employ the double-hurdle model (D-H-M) to craft the primary assessment. The results show that the social network embeddedness facilitates farmers' participation in WEM directly. Collective efficacy plays a full mediation role in the relationship between social network embeddedness and farmers' participation. Moreover, the perceived role of village leaders affects the relationship between social networks and farmers’ participation. Our research enriches the application of social network theory in the rural social context and offers an innovative approach to solving farmers' participation problems in WEM.

COVID-19 vaccination willingness in peri-urban Tanzanian communities: Towards contextualising and moving beyond the individual perspective

With only 5.1% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Tanzania has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world and after two years of changing policies regarding the disease, the country struggles to get its vaccination campaign on the rails. In this study, we identify the determinants of COVID-19 vaccination willingness in two villages of the Mvomero district in Eastern Tanzania. Based on survey data, we performed univariate analyses to assess differences in vaccination intention for various social groups, and built a four-dimensional multivariate ordered logistic regression model that comprises respondents' personal and socioeconomic characteristics, the channels through which they get their information, their attitudes and perceptions towards COVID-19, and their social network embeddedness. Only 37.0% of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccination willingness differed significantly according to gender, age, educational attainment and religion; with men, the elderly, people with post-secondary education and Catholics and Muslims more likely to accept a vaccine. Predictors of vaccination willingness were gender, age, social media and informal contacts as information sources, perceived effectiveness of the vaccine and of alternative medicine, fear of side effects, a general dislike of vaccines, and the proportion of vaccinated people and the highest value of trust in international organisations in one’s network. Although people’s attitudes and perceptions have the largest share of the explanatory value, our model shows that all four of our model’s building blocks were imperative in explaining vaccination willingness. Therefore, our paper presents a compelling case for the inclusion of respondents' social embeddedness as a common dimension for exploratory models of vaccination willingness.

Social Embeddedness and Protest Avoidance: Evidence from China

Social capital is generally believed to facilitate protest mobilization. We examine, however, whether and how it might reduce an individual’s tendency to join a protest. Analyzing survey data of a migrant population in Beijing, China’s capital, we find that social capital operating as better embeddedness in local social networks lowers the likelihood of protest participation. We reason that, structurally, embeddedness in local networks provides access to support and assistance, reducing the attractiveness of disruptive means of problem-solving. Psychologically, such embeddedness mitigates the feeling of relative deprivation, reducing the possibility of such feelings accumulating and eventually translating into protesting actions. Regressions and structural equation models confirm our hypotheses, and we are also able to check the robustness of our findings with a different, much larger, cross-national dataset.

Research on the Influence Mechanism of Dual Social Network Embeddedness Combined Ambidexterity on Entrepreneurial Performance of Returning Migrant Workers

Abstract As an important part of rural members, the success of returning migrant workers’ entrepreneurial activities is not only related to the realization of rural comprehensive revitalization strategy, but also related to the stability of national society. Based on the survey data of 962 returning entrepreneurial migrant workers, combined with social network theory and resource-based theory, based on the dual combined ambidexterity of knowledge resources and operation resources, this paper explores the influence mechanism of rural and urban social network embeddedness combined ambidexterity of returning migrant workers on their entrepreneurial performance. The results show that the embeddedness combined ambidexterity between rural and urban social networks is beneficial to the improvement of entrepreneurial performance of returning migrant workers, and the dual entrepreneurial resources combined ambidexterity of knowledge resources and operation resources play an intermediary role between dual social networks embeddedness combined ambidexterity and entrepreneurial performance. The resource integration ability of migrant workers has a positive moderating effect on the intermediary effect. The research results can provide a reference for the state and government to formulate policies and take measures to improve the entrepreneurial performance of returning migrant workers.

In prosperity and adversity? The value of high-performance work practices for SMEs under conditions of environmental hostility and social embeddedness

PurposeTaking a resource-based view, the authors analyse the effect of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under conditions of environmental hostility, and consider how this relationship is influenced by managers' embeddedness in social networks. The authors argue that high perceived levels of environmental hostility strengthen the strategic value of HPWPs in SMEs, whereas high levels of manager embeddedness in social networks weaken this contingent relationship.Design/methodology/approachThese hypotheses were tested in a sample of 249 SMEs, from two Spanish industries related to food production, using linear regression with two- and three-way interaction effects.FindingsThe study results show that the implementation of HPWPs benefits SMEs' performance in hostile environments. However, the dark side of managers' social capital could undermine any such benefit, especially if there is a high degree of network closure. In hostile contexts, such closure appears to limit managers' willingness to depart from the common practice of reducing investment in human resources.Practical implicationsContrary to predominant beliefs that managers facing economic adversity should reduce costs by cutting investment in personnel development, this study indicates that supporting HPWPs enhances a firm's objective financial performance.Originality/valueThis study advances our understanding of the specific conditions under which HPWPs sustain SME performance. It also introduces the dark side of managers' social capital into considerations of this relationship. The study findings provide new insights that are counterintuitive to business practice.

Relationship coordination between successor and top management team in family business under the background of social embeddedness: a case study of trans-generational entrepreneurship

PurposeAiming at the key issue of interpersonal interaction process between successors and top management teams in the context of family business trans-generational entrepreneurship, this paper aims to explore the motivation, action and results of interpersonal conflict between these two subjects mentioned above.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses grounded theoretical research methods based on the research objects of three family businesses with both inheritance and transformation needs.FindingsMotivation difference, mediation mode and relationship utilization, that is, the successor and top management team take the goal-orientation, interest orientation and rational tendency as the starting point for relationship coordination. Then it mediates the interpersonal conflicts through compromise, collaboration and compliance, and ultimately provide successors with resources, opportunities, capabilities and motivation advantages to promote trans-generational entrepreneurship. Second, the path of relationship coordination comes from the background of social embedding, that is, the motivation difference comes from the embedding of motivation seeking, the mediation mode comes from the embedding of mediation elements and the relationship utilization comes from the embedding of relationship optimization. The research conclusions not only provide a theoretical framework for family businesses to solve the problems of interpersonal conflicts faced by family businesses but also have practical guiding significance for the trans-generational entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThere are two theoretical contributions in this study. First, the research starting point of social embeddedness theory from the perspective of interpersonal relationships at the microlevel is revised. Since Granovetter (Granovetter, 1985) put forward the theory of social embeddedness, its research scope has been gradually expanded, but the mainstream research in the past focused on analyzing the social network embeddedness of enterprises to obtain social capital from the macro- and meso-level (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). In fact, this may deviate from the essential interpretation of Granovetter’s theory of social embeddedness, while this study returns to the study of interpersonal relationships. Second, a theoretical model of relationship coordination for successors and top management team is put forward in general. On the basis of the motivation, action and result of interpersonal interaction between the successor and top management team, the interpersonal coordination action path and embedded logic during trans-generational entrepreneurship of family businesses are revealed, which enriched the research scope of social embedded theory in family business.

A Network Dynamic of Experimental Learning Cycle for Early-Stage Project Success

Early-stage project success does not depend exclusively on network activities but on a dynamic that can switch cognitive structures to behave in ways consistent with the expectations of network needs. By using a quasi-field experiment, this study finds that two types of networks determine the relationship between network embeddedness and early-stage project success via two distinct mechanisms of the experimental learning cycle: Knowledge embeddedness in knowledge networks increases early-stage project success and this relationship is mediated by failure analysis of the experimental learning cycle; social embeddedness in social networks increases early-stage project success and this relationship is mediated by tolerance for failure of the experimental learning cycle. This study sketches out a simple network dynamic, “What–Who–How”, for early-stage project success and illuminates the idea of Learning by Networking.

Contextualizing social networks: The role of person–organization fit in the network–job performance relationship

AbstractWhile scholars have attended to the performance implications of employee embeddedness in social networks within the workplace, less research accounts for the interface of employee and organizational values in enabling employees to leverage these networks. Network perspectives on employee performance acknowledge that certain informal network positions create resources that are beneficial for performance while simultaneously creating demands that may diminish or erode these benefits. Leveraging a Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) perspective, we suggest that person–organization (PO) fit—the perceived congruence between individual and organizational values—will play a crucial role in shaping the performance effects of demands and resources inherently generated by workplace relationships. Results suggest that PO fit moderates relationships between network positions and individual job performance. Specifically, we find that having many friendships or being heavily sought out for advice enhances performance for those with higher levels of PO fit. Supplemental analyses highlight that incoming friendships or advice ties that are cross‐functional are still beneficial for those among the highest in PO fit, but also that these same network positions can be detrimental for employees who are among the lowest in PO fit. These results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the demands and resources generated by informal networks and how the translation of these features into performance is contingent upon the extent to which an employee identifies with organizational values.

Transport poverty meets car dependency: A GPS tracking study of socially disadvantaged groups in European rural peripheries

This article explores the spatial mobility of disadvantaged populations in order to enhance our understanding of transport poverty. It is based on participatory GPS tracking data collected in peripheral rural regions in Czechia and Germany. The data provide information on the two-week mobility of 61 socially disadvantaged study participants belonging to the following groups: (a) the lone elderly, (b) the labor market disadvantaged, and (c) single parents. The quantitative analysis utilizes group comparisons of activity space metrics. The results show that the mobility of disadvantaged people varied little between countries and regions, which indicates that individual social disadvantage mattered more than regional spatial disadvantage. Daily mobility depended on individual mobility strategies, and on people's embeddedness in social networks. The mobility patterns of socially disadvantaged groups differed, and showed considerable within-group variability. Our analysis finds that the effects of car access depended on the respondents' levels of social disadvantage; and that a car was not a merely a transport variable, but a socially conditioned variable. Understanding how automobility in rural peripheries is mediated by social ties, and how it can both enable and constrain chances for social participation, is essential for developing measures aimed at reducing transport poverty.

Employer Participation in Active Labour Market Policies in the United Kingdom and Denmark: The Effect of Employer Associations as Social Networks and the Mediating Role of Collective Voice

Active labour market policies (ALMPs) have evolved as pivotal social policy instruments designed to place the unemployed and other disadvantaged groups in sustainable employment. Yet, little is known about what drives employer participation in such initiatives. This article provides a nuanced account of the socio-economic aspects of the demand-side of ALMPs, by investigating employer embeddedness in wider social networks created by employer associations and employee collective voice as enabling mechanisms for employer participation in ALMPs. Drawing on an original survey of employers in the United Kingdom (UK) and Denmark, we found that the extent of employer embeddedness in such social networks is positively associated with employer participation in the UK but not in Denmark, where the effect was indirect and mediated through collective bargaining. The effects of employer network ties and employee collective voice affirm the importance of a more integrated analysis of the interactions between network ties and institutions in ALMP research.

Impact of social network embeddedness on the adoption of green control technologies by farmers: Mediating effects based on technology perception

Impact of social network embeddedness on the adoption of green control technologies by farmers: Mediating effects based on technology perception

The Role of Social Network Embeddedness and Collective Efficacy in Encouraging Farmers' Participation in Water Environmental Management

The Role of Social Network Embeddedness and Collective Efficacy in Encouraging Farmers' Participation in Water Environmental Management

Psychosocial factors associated with changes in cognition among middle‐aged and older Hispanics/Latinos: Findings from the HCHS/SOL and the sociocultural and SOL‐Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL‐INCA) ancillary studies

AbstractBackgroundPsychosocial factors including intrapersonal and interpersonal resources and social stressors are associated with changes in cognition in older non‐Hispanic whites and Blacks. Few studies have examined these associations in Hispanics/Latinos, the largest ethnic/racial group in the US, or evaluated ethnically‐based psychosocial factors that may be more relevant to this population. We examined whether psychosocial factors predict seven‐year cognitive changes among US Hispanics/Latinos.MethodData from the parent HCHS/SOL, and Sociocultural and SOL‐Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging ancillary studies were used (n= 2,158; ages 45+). Baseline psychosocial factors included: intrapersonal factors (optimism; purpose in life), interpersonal factors (family cohesion; social network embeddedness; social support), social stressors (loneliness; subjective social status), and ethnically‐based factors (ethnic identity; familism; perceived ethnic discrimination). Outcomes were changes in individual test scores for episodic learning and memory (B‐SEVLT‐Sum and SEVLT‐Recall), word fluency (WF), and processing speed (Digit Symbol Substitution, DSS) derived using regressions adjusting for time between assessments. Survey linear regression models were used to examine the associations between each psychosocial factor (z‐scores) and 7‐year changes in cognitive outcomes adjusting for age, sex, education, income, Hispanic/Latino background, language preference, and depressive symptoms.ResultMean age was 55.9±7.9 years; females 54% of target population. Higher (baseline) levels of familism [(βSEVLT‐Sum (SE))= ‐0.08 (0.03), P<0.05)] predicted seven‐year decline in verbal learning. Higher optimism [βSEVLT‐Recall= 0.09 (0.03), P<0.01], social support [βSEVLT‐Recall= 0.07 (0.03), P<0.05], and ethnic identity [βSEVLT‐Recall= 0.06 (0.03), P<0.05] each predicted increase in memory. Higher familism [βSEVLT‐Recall= ‐0.08 (0.03), P<0.05] and loneliness [βSEVLT‐Recall= ‐0.06 (0.03), P<0.05] each predicted decline in memory. Higher purpose in life [βWF= 0.07 (0.03), P<0.05] predicted increase in word fluency. Higher family cohesion [βDSS= ‐0.08 (0.03, P<0.01) predicted decline in processing speed. Social network embeddedness, subjective social status, and perceived ethnic discrimination were not associated with any outcome.ConclusionPsychosocial factors differentially related to changes in cognition. Results confirm previous studies in non‐Hispanic whites on associations of optimism, purpose in life, social support, and loneliness with select cognitive tests. They also highlight that ethnic identity and familism are ethnically‐based psychosocial factors that should be considered when examining healthy cognitive aging in US Hispanics/Latinos.

Antecedents of high performance work practices in SMEs: an attention-based view

Relative to the large body of work in the broader strategic HRM (SHRM) literature, knowledge about determinants of SMEs’ approaches to HRM remains limited. We argue that heterogeneity in the use of high performance work practices (HPWPs) is influenced by top managers’ exposure and attention to information obtained via environmental scanning. Invoking an attention-based view (ABV), we develop hypotheses suggesting that competition tracking, participation in trade associations, and social network embeddedness will be associated with greater use of HPWPs. We also propose direct and moderating roles for top managers’ perceptions of competitive intensity. We test our hypotheses using a database comprised of a combination of archival data and mail survey responses from 260 agricultural SMEs located in geographical clusters. Our results broadly support this study’s hypotheses and contribute to a better understanding of the role of top managers’ environmental scanning in the shaping of HPWPs in SMEs.