Social Network Perspective Research Articles

Service Innovation, Inter-organizational Trust, and Performance in Hospital Platforms: Social Network and Agency Perspectives.

Service industries contribute significantly to the economic, social, and even life aspect of the world. However, service innovation has been rarely discussed in healthcare context, especially in the digital healthcare context Service innovation needs to be organized in the premise of mutual trust to be efficient, thereby improving service performance. The trust and efficiency here demands a good online platform service to both virtualize the interaction processes and maintain trust and agency. This research uses social network theory and agency theory to emphasize the importance of trust in cooperation in hospitals, and the relationship between organizational trust and organizational performance. Furthermore, we analyzed the role of agents in enhancing the relationship between service innovation and trust. Based on the analyses, five propositions and future research directions are proposed.

Measuring the Competitive Advantage of Countries Along the Belt and Road From the Perspective of Complex Social Networks

For the Belt and Road Initiative, “extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits” is the basic principle, and the competitiveness heterogeneity is an important condition for cooperation. Based on the complex network theory, this paper constructs a complex network model of global value chain (GVC) division of labor system by using the Multi-Regional Input-output (MRIO) table, and reveals the variation trend of competitiveness of industrial sectors and economies on the GVC network by the National Competitive Advantage Index (NCAI). The results verify the effectiveness of BRI, and help countries along the B&R route to explore their comparative advantages and cooperation prospects with other countries. The research also provides a direction and reference for China to better implement the Initiative.

Exploring the Spatial Network Structure of Agricultural Water Use Efficiency in China: A Social Network Perspective

The exploration of the spatial network structure of agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) and its influencing factors for promoting water saving and improving water use efficiency in regional agricultural production is of great importance. In this paper, the modified gravity model and social network analysis methods were used to study the spatial correlation characteristics and influencing factors of AWUE in China between the years 2008 and 2019. It was found that (1) the overall trend of AWUE in China has been fluctuating and declining, and there are obvious differences in AWUE in each region; (2) the spatial network structure of AWUE in China is complex and relatively stable, with close interprovincial connections and obvious spatial spillover effects; (3) Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang are at the center of the network; and (4) the differences between geographical adjacency, technological development level, farmers’ income, and natural resource endowment have significant effects on the development of the AWUE network. These results provide a theoretical basis for the government to improve AWUE and promote collaborative regional development.

Functional diversity of top management teams and firm performance in SMEs: a social network perspective

Functional diversity of top management teams and firm performance in SMEs: a social network perspective

Choreographing salesperson face-to-face visits with a buyer organization: a social network perspective

Choreographing salesperson face-to-face visits with a buyer organization: a social network perspective

The Structure of Social Networks and Its Link to Higher Education Students' Socio-Emotional Loneliness During COVID-19.

Lonely students typically underperform academically. According to several studies, the COVID-19 pandemic is an important risk factor for increases in loneliness, as the contact restrictions and the switch to mainly online classes potentially burden the students. The previously familiar academic environment (campus), as well as the exchange with peers and lecturers on site, were no longer made available. In our cross-sectional study, we examine factors that could potentially counteract the development of higher education student loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic from a social network perspective. During the semester, N = 283 students from across all institutional faculties of a German comprehensive university took part in an online survey. We surveyed their social and emotional experiences of loneliness, their self-reported digital information-sharing behavior, and their current egocentric networks. Here, we distinguished between close online contacts (i.e., mainly online exchanges) and close offline contacts (i.e., mainly in-person face-to-face exchanges). In addition, we derived the interconnectedness (i.e., the densities of the egocentric networks) and heterogeneity (operationalized with the entropy) of students’ contacts. To obtain the latter, we used a novel two-step method combining t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) and cluster analysis. We explored the associations of the aforementioned predictors (i.e., information-sharing behavior, number of online and offline contacts, as well as interconnectedness and heterogeneity of the close contacts network) on social and emotional loneliness separately using two hierarchical multiple linear regression models. Our results suggest that social loneliness is strongly related to digital information-sharing behavior and the network structure of close contacts. In particular, high information-sharing behavior, high number of close contacts (whether offline or online), a highly interconnected network, and a homogeneous structure of close contacts were associated with low social loneliness. Emotional loneliness, on the other hand, was mainly related to network homogeneity, in the sense that students with homogeneous close contacts networks experienced low emotional loneliness. Overall, our study highlights the central role of students’ close social network on feelings of loneliness in the context of COVID-19 restrictions. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Describing and measuring leadership within school teams by applying a social network perspective

Despite the growing number of studies that acknowledge a crucial role of distributed leadership within schools, limited knowledge exists on how to describe and measure this multi-faceted concept. In a social network study with 130 respondents, from 14 Dutch school teams carrying out collaborative innovation, we theoretically describe three core aspects of the social interaction process of distributed leadership: collective, dynamic, or relational. Furthermore, we empirically explore how to measure all these three aspects of distributed leadership from a social network perspective, whereas most research focuses on either collective or dynamic. Our findings indicate that three network measures (density, reciprocity, indegree centralization) form a coherent combination to measure distributed leadership in school teams in terms of collective, relational, and dynamic, respectively. Furthermore, based on the combination of measures we found differences in distributed leadership between school teams. Thus, adding the relational aspect in addition to the collective and dynamic aspects seems to be informative to measure distributed leadership. Our study motivates to take a social network perspective, instead of the mostly used aggregation approaches, to measure distributed leadership in school teams.

The Influence of Network Location on Knowledge Hiding from the Perspective of Lifelong Education.

Inhibiting negative knowledge behavior is one of the ways to improve the effective circulation of knowledge within the organization. This study puts employees' knowledge hiding behavior in the organizational relationship network situation and discusses the influence of network location on knowledge hiding, exploring the moderating role of knowledge acquisition in the relationship between network location and knowledge hiding. From the perspective of social network, 232 knowledge-based employees were used to obtain the data, and we used literature analysis, social network analysis, multiple regression analysis, UCINET, SPSS, and other software packages. Research shows that employees in the central network are less willing to do knowledge hiding behavior, and those in the structural hole network tend to do knowledge hiding behavior. Knowledge acquisition as the supply way of knowledge resources plays a positive role on the negative relationship between centrality and knowledge hiding and on the positive relationship between structure hole and knowledge hiding. The research results have positive significance for understanding and mastering the hiding behavior law of individual knowledge in the organizational relationship network and also provide certain theoretical basis and data support for organizational knowledge governance.

Crucial Success Factors and Collaborative Governance Mechanism for the Transformation of Existing Residential Buildings in Urban Renewal: From a Social Network Perspective

Crucial Success Factors and Collaborative Governance Mechanism for the Transformation of Existing Residential Buildings in Urban Renewal: From a Social Network Perspective

Internal Auditors’ Role in Organizational Innovation: A Social Network Perspective

Internal Auditors’ Role in Organizational Innovation: A Social Network Perspective

Analysing the challenges in stakeholder relationship management in the healthcare process: a social network perspective

We investigate stakeholder relationship management and identify challenges that impact relationships at the healthcare process level using the inductive research approach. We adopt an inductive approach and grounded theory method since there is a need for detailed descriptions on stakeholder network, especially on relationship management. The emergent grounded theoretical model explains the challenges that impact stakeholder relationship management, i.e., gaps in the healthcare network, challenges in articulating a healthcare vision, triggers of challenges, contextual challenges, healthcare landscape, challenges in trust-building, and collaboration. Additionally, our findings show how the network structure and stakeholders' position in the network, based on their interactions' patterns, influence stakeholder relationship management. The grounded theory that emerged from our study confirms several themes and their interrelationships, which constitute our main contribution.

Analysing the challenges in stakeholder relationship management in the healthcare process: a social network perspective

Analysing the challenges in stakeholder relationship management in the healthcare process: a social network perspective

Social Work Research on Intervention of Rural Left-behind Children from the Social Support Network Perspective

Rural left-behind children as a special vulnerable group, has aroused extensive public concern since 2004. Owing to the limitations of subjective and objective conditions, the demand of the rural left-behind children is difficult to meet, which consequently hinders their growth and development, and even may threaten their personal existence. As spokesmen for vulnerable groups of society, social workers should be responsible for the rights and interests maintenance of rural left-behind children and take action at once. Social support network theory is applied in this paper. The paper suggests that a major factor leading to the problem of rural left-behind children is the lack of their social support networks. It points out that the social support network should include two aspects: the personal-self support and the social support. In fact, the two aspects are mutually connected. The author emphasizes that social work should give full play to the professional strengths so as to build a safe, effective and comprehensive social support network for the rural left-behind children. The concrete actions should be initiated from the personal intervention of both internal and external dimensions.

Can miners' social networks affect their safety commitment? A case study of Chinese coal mining enterprises

Safety commitment is a key factor determining the stability of miners' safe behavior. This study explored safety commitments from the perspective of personnel traits and social networks, extending previous studies on single individual safety commitments. A case survey of social networks, personality traits, and the safety commitment level of six workgroups from coal mining enterprises in China was conducted. The findings demonstrate that: (1) Workgroups exhibited “external occlusion”, and key connecting nodes and the core nodes of each group showed an aggregation of nodes with more openness and conscientiousness. (2) With regard to the network density, a positive relationship exists between network density and safety commitment for groups in the same sub-units; likewise, there are obvious correlations among parts of network parameters and safety commitments, as well as personality traits. (3) The opinion leaders’ commitment to safety reflects that of their workgroup. Meanwhile, when opinion leaders and group chiefs are not the same people, the safety commitment of opinion leaders is higher than that of group chiefs. (4) Homogeneous clusters and heterogeneous clusters of subgroups exist in workgroups and there is a consistent relationship between the safety characteristics of cluster subgroups and the safety commitment level of the whole workgroup. This study extends the theoretical foundation of safety commitments from the perspective of micro-networks and provides a practical inspiration for overcoming inefficient safety management and effectively promoting safety performance in coal companies.

Environmental Gerontology During COVID-19: Aging in Place Since the Pandemic Onset

The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally changing neighborhood landscapes as we shelter in place and adjust our lifestyles. To age-in-place is to live in one’s home and/or community “safely, independently, and comfortably.” The ability to age-in-place is a public health priority for all, regardless of income or health status, and requires a variety of community resources to be sustainable. Since the pandemic onset, access to neighborhood resources was limited to reduce transmission risks. Changes to economic arrangements and socio-spatial norms have profoundly impacted daily life, though how these influence health and well-being is largely unknown. It is likely that these effects may vary in different communities and contexts; for example, neighborhoods that are able to self-organize to safely provide social support and resources may fare better. This symposium brings together cutting-edge studies in urban and rural U.S. places to explicate how the pandemic is transforming aging-in-place experiences and perspectives. The first presentation shows how rapidly community-based services have adjusted operations to meet the needs of their communities. The second presentation explores strategies to provide social support in rural communities. The third presentation highlights the social health needs of a subset of older adults who had not formed friendships with their neighbors. Together, these studies suggest that close examinations of aging-in-place conditions and mechanisms from organizational, socio-spatial, and social network perspectives are evermore important amid a pandemic. We discuss the implications of these empirical findings in relation to emerging theories within environmental gerontology.

Personal Network Bridging Potential Among Rural and Older Populations

Personal social networks play a fundamental role in the daily lives of older adults. Although many studies examine how life course factors and personal preferences shape network formation, fewer consider how the places in which older adults live present opportunities and obstacles to cultivate social relationships. In the present study, we explore how geographic context is associated with the ability to interact with non-overlapping social groups within one’s personal network (i.e., network bridging). This unique network formation offers older adults access to diverse social stimuli, non-redundant information, and social autonomy. By analyzing data from the Person-to-Person Health Interview Survey (N=709), we found that a minority of respondents reported the ability to bridge social groups within their networks. Respondents residing in rural and semi-rural counties engaged in fewer non-overlapping social groups compared to those residing in urban counties. These findings suggest that the communities in which older adults live condition opportunities for accessing unique social resources. Identifying the link between geographic residence and personal network structure has important implications for how individuals navigate the uncertainty and elevated support needs of later life. Additional research adopting a social network perspective is needed to provide insight into geographic health disparities occurring among the older population.

Cultivating consumer subjective well-being through online brand communities: a multidimensional view of social capital

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the role of multidimensional social capital and consumer subjective well-being in online brand communities (OBCs). The aim was to provide practical guidance to global brand marketers for cultivating and strengthening OBC operations, optimizing consumer-brand-community relationships and creating value in the digital age.Design/methodology/approachA total of 576 valid questionnaires were collected through an online survey, and the model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsIn OBCs, the cognitive dimension of social capital (i.e. shared language and shared vision) strongly affects the relational dimension of social capital (i.e. social trust and reciprocity). Both these dimensions also positively influence consumer community subjective well-being, which, in turn, enhances consumer brand subjective well-being. Thus, community subjective well-being has a mediating role in the aforementioned relationship, and brand community is an antecedent to brand subjective well-being.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies should investigate other dimensions of social capital and well-being, as well as moderator variables, social environments and types of culture.Originality/valueThis study constructed a conceptual framework that focused on the effect of multidimensional social capital in OBCs to elucidate antecedents of brand subjective well-being from the perspectives of social networks and relationships. Moreover, it examined how brands strategically expand their clientele base with regard to target customers.

A Study of Cloud-Based Remote Clinical Care Technology.

This paper uses cloud computing to build and design remote clinical care technology, and the study refines the evaluation approach for the elements and builds an evaluation prototype for the strategy, uses service design theory to improve the design of the service part of the assistive system, summarizes the list of requirements based on system design and service design, and designs a service design prototype. Through design practice, the detailed design of the software interaction interface and the auxiliary product of the care assistance system based on the prototype are investigated. Based on the user perspective, the strategy of meeting user expectations and improving user information literacy is proposed; based on the social network perspective, the strategy of establishing a long-term mechanism for smart medical operation and improving the information interaction network environment is proposed; and based on the system service perspective, the strategy of optimizing the system function design and innovating the service model is proposed. Compared with the traditional written patient handover, the application of MNIS under cloud computing can significantly shorten the handover time of surgical patients, improve the standardized rate of surgical safety verification execution and the qualified rate of nursing documents, while the rate of standardized application of prophylactic antibiotics is also significantly higher than that of the control group. The questionnaire survey of nursing staff in the operating room showed that clinical nursing staff was generally satisfied with the clinical application of MNIS under cloud computing, with an average satisfaction score of 64.5 to 11.3, and an average score of 3.58 to 0.54 for each item. Among them, pre-application training of MNIS, departmental support for MNIS, and its ease of verification in surgical patients were the three main factors favoring the clinical application of MNIS in the operating room with cloud computing, while barriers to wireless network connectivity, inconvenient PDA input, and small screen size were the three main drawbacks affecting its application. The determined clinical evaluation index system of MNIS in the operating room is innovative, which not only includes clinical care indicators but also covers general hardware and software indicators, which can effectively reflect the practical application capability of mobile terminal clinical and user experience feelings, and the evaluation index system is comprehensive.

An empirical analysis on regional natural gas market of China from a spatial pattern and social network perspective

Coordinating the relationship between the national pipeline network company and the provincial natural gas company is the most crucial contradiction in China's natural gas market reform. This paper innovatively incorporates the comprehensive evaluation method, modified spatial gravity model, and social network analysis method to investigate the regional natural gas market to solve this dilemma. The result of the case study is as follows. (1) The development of the natural gas market in China's provinces is uneven, among which resourceful provinces and eastern provinces are relatively strong. (2) The densely connected areas of the natural gas market are mainly concentrated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze-River-Delta region, and the Sichuan-Chongqing region. (3) Our work can clarify the node attributes and different efficacy of provinces. The core provinces all belong to the net spillover block, and they are located at key positions and roles in the obtained spatial correlation network. (4) Market participants, commodity diversification and openness are the prominent factors influencing the proposed spatial correlation network. This paper's major achievement is the reasonable division of five regional natural gas markets. The conclusion can help policymakers clarify the overall natural gas market spatial pattern and provinces' market potential and functions.

How to Transform Liability of Foreignness into Asset of Foreignness under the “Belt and Road” Initiative? A Case Study from the Perspective of Social Network

Under the “Belt and Road” Initiative （BRI）, Chinese companies’ “go-global” has gradually become an important strategy for industrial upgrading. However, many “go-global” companies have met the liability of foreignness （LOF）, including legitimacy problems and the threat of exit. How to overcome LOF has become an urgent problem for the overseas subsidiaries of “go-global” companies.We illustrate our arguments through a single case of Chinese multinational subsidiary Taiwenlong Cement Co., Ltd. in Cambodia. This paper studies from the perspective of social network analysis to identify the source of LOF, and discusses the mode of transforming LOF into the asset of foreignness （AOF）. The case company, Taiwenlong Cement Co., Ltd., is a joint venture between a Chinese company and a host-country company. As a representative of the successful transformation of LOF into AOF, this project experienced both the “honeymoon period” and the “setback period” in its construction and operation process and finally gained a foothold in Cambodia after various attempts.Based on the case analysis, we find that under the BRI, LOF of foreign subsidiaries of Chinese companies in countries along the BRI shows dynamic changes. This paper has several contributions: Firstly, under the BRI, the government-enterprise relationship and industrial chain relationship of the host country are important sources of LOF. Secondly, with the development of Chinese companies’ “go global”, the focus of overcoming LOF has gradually shifted from the national level to the industrial level. The key to the transformation of AOF and LOF lies in matching the adequate industry chain network. Finally, the home government support, technology transfer and industrial agglomeration can promote the transformation of LOF into AOF in the industry chain. Therefore, we construct three transformation routes: （1）Multi-agent centralization mode, through which foreigners can use different types of network resources including not only the government, shareholders, industrial partners in the home country, but also the subjects of local network in the host country, to obtain higher network status in a situation where foreigners can afford a high level of LOF.（2）Foreignness centralization mode, in which foreigners can establish a self-centered industrial chain network, occupying an intermediary role in the flows of information and resources in the case that they can dominate the allocation of network resources.（3）Industrial centralization mode, in which foreign companies can build network with a few industrial partners through the scale advantage of industrial clusters under the case of relatively scarce network resources. The conclusions of this paper have positive implications for the promotion of high-quality development of BRI and Chinese private companies to “go global”.