Social Network Position Research Articles

How Group Leaders Build Stable Community Buying Groups: A Perspective Based on the Differential Mode of Association

Since 2016, community group buying has grown significantly in China, largely driven by its efficient logistics, supply chains, low prices, and convenience. This model has been further popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its effectiveness in meeting daily needs while minimizing human-to-human contact. A key component of this business model are the “group leaders” - influential individuals within a community responsible for managing group buying activities, which include order collection, supplier liaison, and goods distribution. Their primary task is to form and sustain a reliable community group buying consortium, a task that demands excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. This paper examines this phenomenon using the lens of the differential mode of association, a theoretical model explaining interpersonal relationships in traditional Chinese society. The research indicates that group leaders, through regular interaction with consumers, are able to alter their social network position, increase their influence, understand consumer needs, provide satisfying services, and enhance trust, thereby transforming consumers into loyal group buying participants. This transformation not only brings stability to group buying activities but also reinforces the community influence of group leaders, thus fostering the growth of community group buying.

Support Interventions for Young People in Housing Programs: A Rapid Literature Review.

This rapid review synthesizes current original research studies concerning support interventions intended for young people who experienced homelessness and are housed through youth-focused housing programs. Peer-reviewed articles on interventions for young people between 13 and 25 years of age with experience of homelessness living in youth-focused housing published between January 2017 and May 2022 were search in Scopus, Web of Sciences, PubMed, and EBSCO. Ten articles were included in the review. Interventions examined in the reviewed literature included case management, psychosocial and mental health support interventions; social support through peer support, mentorship, and positive social networks; and socioeconomic inclusion through skill building. Evidence found in the current review provides directions for the development of promising practices.

Adolescent network positions and memory performance in adulthood: Evidence from sibling fixed effects models with sociometric network data

Although research has explored social factors influencing memory performance during adolescence, the impact of adolescent social network positions remains largely unknown. This study examines whether adolescent network position is associated with memory performance in adulthood, while also considering potential gender differences. The study used a sibling sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 2462) and employed sibling fixed effects models to account for unobserved family background factors, such as genetics, parental characteristics, family environment, and childhood neighborhood. Four dimensions of adolescent network position—i.e., popularity, sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality—were sociometrically assessed in schools. Memory performance in adulthood was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. The sibling fixed effects estimates indicate that sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality are significantly associated with increased memory performance in adulthood, even after controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity as well as a set of individual-level covariates. In contrast, controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity attenuated the association for popularity, making it statistically insignificant. This study also provides evidence of gender differences in the association between social network position and memory performance. The associations for popularity, sociality, and degree centrality are more pronounced among men than women. This study’s findings highlight the importance of adolescent network positions as social determinants in shaping cognitive outcomes over the life course. Interventions that encourage positive peer interactions and reduce social isolation during adolescence may help improve cognitive health in the population.

Perceived knowledge relevance in an R&D alliance: The role of job experience, social network position and motivation

If employees have access to additional relevant knowledge and information, they can be more innovative, which is a reason for many firms to ally. Key in an alliance is the sharing of existing and creating of new knowledge, but transferring knowledge inside an alliance is not obvious or easy. Knowledge exchanged within an alliance must be perceived as relevant in order for it to be used. If individuals in an alliance can readily perceive knowledge to be relevant, the right knowledge is transferred and is transferred in an efficient manner. Building on stickiness of knowledge and knowledge relevance theory, we examine the relationship between an individual's job experience as well as intrinsic motivation on the one hand, on their perception of the relevance of others' knowledge on the other hand. These relationships are positively moderated by an individual's favourable position and connection strength in the network of individuals engaged in the alliance, respectively. We find a weak but insignificant negative relationship between job experience and perceived knowledge relevance. Being well‐positioned in a network brings out the positive effect of job experience, as expected, whereas connection strength does not further enhance the positive effect of intrinsic motivation.

Adolescent Social Networks and Physical Intimate Partner Violence Among Colombian Rural Adolescents

ABSTRACT The current study analyzes individual and social network correlates of adolescent engagement in physical intimate partner violence (IPV) utilizing socio-centric data from a high-school population of 242 adolescents from rural Colombia. We studied self-reported victimization and perpetration for boys and girls. First, we used logistic regression to explore the relationship between adolescents’ IPV engagement and school peers’ IPV engagement, school violence victimization, and social network position, controlling for gender and age (N = 111). Second, we used social network statistical methods to investigate if there were more friendships of similar IPV status to the adolescent than expected by chance in their social networks. Our results show that the proportion of friends perpetrating physical IPV increased the probability of adolescents’ IPV perpetration. Contrarywise, the proportion of friends experiencing IPV victimization decreased with the adolescent’s own victimization. Being a victim (a status significantly more common among boys) was also associated with reporting perpetration for both genders. Furthermore, our results contradicted the social network literature, as we found no preferential ties among perpetrators/victims (e.g. adolescents do not seem to befriend each other by IPV engagement). Our study is unique to the global adolescent IPV literature given the scarcity of research examining physical IPV among adolescents in the context of both girls and boys in the context of their school networks. We also add to the understanding of IPV in the case of the global majority of adolescents with the highest rates of IPV victimization (living in low and middle-income countries).

The impact of consumer personality and social network position on brand community engagement

The impact of consumer personality and social network position on brand community engagement

Social network position is a major predictor of ant behavior, microbiota composition, and brain gene expression.

The physiology and behavior of social organisms correlate with their social environments. However, because social environments are typically confounded by age and physical environments (i.e., spatial location and associated abiotic factors), these correlations are usually difficult to interpret. For example, associations between an individual's social environment and its gene expression patterns may result from both factors being driven by age or behavior. Simultaneous measurement of pertinent variables and quantification of the correlations between these variables can indicate whether relationships are direct (and possibly causal) or indirect. Here, we combine demographic and automated behavioral tracking with a multiomic approach to dissect the correlation structure among the social and physical environment, age, behavior, brain gene expression, and microbiota composition in the carpenter ant Camponotus fellah. Variations in physiology and behavior were most strongly correlated with the social environment. Moreover, seemingly strong correlations between brain gene expression and microbiota composition, physical environment, age, and behavior became weak when controlling for the social environment. Consistent with this, a machine learning analysis revealed that from brain gene expression data, an individual's social environment can be more accurately predicted than any other behavioral metric. These results indicate that social environment is a key regulator of behavior and physiology.

Social network position and the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity in older Koreans

BackgroundSocial connections are crucial to human health and well-being. Previous research on molecular mechanisms in health has focused primarily on the individual-level perception of social connections (e.g., loneliness). This study adopted socio-centric social network analysis that includes all social ties from the entire population of interest to examine the group-level social connections and their association with a molecular genomic measure of health. MethodsUsing socio-centric (global) social network data from an entire village in Korea, we investigated how social network characteristics are related to immune cell gene expression among older adults. Blood samples were collected (N = 53, 65–79 years) and mixed effect linear model analyses were performed to examine the association between social network characteristics and Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) RNA expression patterns. ResultsSocial network positions measured by k-core score, the degree of cohesive core positions in an entire village, were significantly associated with CTRA downregulation. Such associations emerged above and beyond the effects of perceived social isolation (loneliness) and biobehavioral risk factors (smoking, alcohol, BMI, etc.). Social network size, defined as degree centrality, was also associated with reduced CTRA gene expression, but its association mimicked that of perceived social isolation (loneliness). ConclusionsThe current findings implicate community-level social network characteristics in the regulation of individual human genome function above and beyond individual-level perceptions of connectedness.

Participação cidadã e literacia digital crítica dos estudantes universitários

The forms of citizen participation have been reconfigured in recent years. The presence of social networks and digital media in general have favored multiple modes of access to information, expression of ideas and social participation. A necessary reflection to think about a sustainable future requires an assessment of communicative practices in digital media and the challenges in citizen education that globalization entails. This research focused on the analysis of citizen participation practices of university students in digital media and its implications for global citizenship. A mixed investigation with a quantitative-qualitative sequence was proposed. In the first phase, a cross-sectional descriptive study was developed with 740 students from a Colombian university, to whom an electronic questionnaire was applied. In the second qualitative phase, discussion groups were held with 42 students, with the purpose of discussing the findings of the questionnaire from the perspective of the participants. It was found that the practices conducted by the students focus mostly on basic and intermediate levels of citizenship represented in the consultation of online information and expression of the ideological positions in social networks, with high limitations towards higher levels of citizenship referred to concrete actions to impact reality. It is evident that this difficulty in contributing to social changes in the world is due to the lack of education for critical global citizenship. Therefore, critical literacy for the use of digital media is proposed as a citizen educational strategy, considering that it contributes to the construction of a more hopeful vision of the future.

Associations between social networks and creative behavior during adolescence: The mediating effect of psychological capital

Creative behaviors in adolescence are associated with peer relationships. However, the specific manifestations and mechanisms are poorly understood. According to the small-world theory, peer social networks is contributed to creative behavior. Meanwhile, according to the social capital theory, adolescents can gain social support from peer social networks; in turn, they accumulate psychological capital to support their creative behaviors. The current study used a social network research design to examine associations between adolescent social network position (indegree, outdegree, closeness, and betweenness) within their peer network and their creative behaviors. A total of 783 adolescents aged 15–18 years (M = 16.41; 48.7% female) were recruited to participate in this study. The results showed that indegree, closeness, and betweenness centrality positively predicted the creative behavior of adolescents through the mediating effect of psychological capital. The finding supports the view of the small world theory and social capital theory that adolescents’ peer status in a social network promotes their psychological capital, which in turn promotes the expression of creative behaviors.

Social network positions of common waxbills are resilient to prolonged absence and to manipulation of ornamental plumage

Social network positions of common waxbills are resilient to prolonged absence and to manipulation of ornamental plumage

Social network-structural position and obesity: Evidence from a national study

This study expands on research on the social-structural bases of obesity by examining the role played by individuals' positions within their egocentric social networks in shaping body mass index. We argue that individuals’ tendency to be a bridge between otherwise unconnected people can affect body mass index. Furthermore, health-specific resources flowing through their networks might interact with this network-structural position to shape this association. Using multivariate analyses of recent nationally representative data on older Americans, we find that occupying a bridging position within a network is negatively related to the likelihood of being obese. Moreover, people who have this bridging potential tend to benefit more from health-related knowledge in their networks than those who do not have it. Our findings underscore the importance of considering social network position and the functional specificity of ties in understanding the structural bases of health problems like obesity. We close by discussing implications of these findings for future work on obesity including potential insights into important health disparities.

Understanding the effects of personality traits on the quality of individual ideas on open innovation platforms: a mediated empirical investigation

PurposeOnline open innovation platforms provide opportunities for product users to participate in the innovation process and contribute their ideas to the platform. Nonetheless, they also present a significant challenge for platform managers, who select high-quality innovations from a massive collection of information with diverse quality.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors employed a machine learning method to automatically collect a real dataset of 2,276 innovations and 30,004 detailed comments from the online platform of IdeaExchange and then conducted empirical experiments to verify the study hypothesis.FindingsResults show that extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to experience positively and directly influenced the quality of their innovation. Furthermore, an individual's social network position mediated among extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to experience and the quality of an innovation.Research limitations/implicationsResults showed that extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to experience positively and directly influenced the quality of their innovation. Furthermore, an individual's social network position mediated among extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience and the quality of innovations.Originality/valueThis study combined the Big Five personality traits theory and social network theory to examine the association between user intrinsic personality traits, social network position and the quality of their innovative ideas in the context of online innovation platforms. Additionally, the findings provide new insights for platform managers on how to select high-quality innovation information by considering user personality traits and their social network position.

The effects of learners’ background and social network position on content-related MOOC interaction

The effects of learners’ background and social network position on content-related MOOC interaction

"But I Live Here Too": Social-structural stressors, racial discrimination, and resiliency among urban dwelling black emerging adult men.

For many Black emerging adult men in the United States, social-structural stressors rooted in racial discrimination are daily experiences that place them at greater risk for poor health. Emerging adulthood is a critical life course period marked by greater experimentation with health risk behaviors. Although Black men's health vulnerabilities during this period are connected to their social-structural environments, investigations of these factors among noncollege sampled Black men remain limited. We conduced thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews to examine associations between social-structural challenges and social-structural resources for resiliency. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using Dedoose web-based qualitative software. Through open coding, emergent concepts were connected across interviews and major themes were identified. We found three core social-structural stressors: (1) Racial profiling, (2) neighborhood violence, and (3) lack of economic opportunities, and three resilience factors: (1) Positive social networks, (2) community-based resources, and (3) safe environments that foster a sense of community. Collectively, these findings provide insight into developing structural- and community-level interventions tailored to bolster resiliency across multiple levels and counteract the social-structural challenges that young Black men face.

A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Adolescent Social Network Positions and Lifetime Daily Smoking and Nicotine Dependence

This study investigated the extent to which adolescent social network positions are associated with the risk of lifetime daily smoking and nicotine dependence (ND), and whether these associations differ by gender. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( N = 6,267), this study estimated multinomial logistic regression models. An increase in in-degree nominations, out-degree nominations, and Bonacich centrality was associated with a lower relative risk of never smoking daily versus ever smoking daily. By contrast, adolescents with greater in-degree nominations, out-degree nominations, Bonacich centrality, and network reach in three steps were at decreased risk for lifetime ND. Gender-stratified models indicate that the negative association between network position and never smoking daily was driven largely by women, whereas the positive association between network position and lifetime ND was driven largely by men. Incorporating social network structural approaches into adolescent smoking prevention efforts may be beneficial.

On the rise of fear speech in online social media

Recently, social media platforms are heavily moderated to prevent the spread of online hate speech, which is usually fertile in toxic words and is directed toward an individual or a community. Owing to such heavy moderation, newer and more subtle techniques are being deployed. One of the most striking among these is fear speech. Fear speech, as the name suggests, attempts to incite fear about a target community. Although subtle, it might be highly effective, often pushing communities toward a physical conflict. Therefore, understanding their prevalence in social media is of paramount importance. This article presents a large-scale study to understand the prevalence of 400K fear speech and over 700K hate speech posts collected from Gab.com. Remarkably, users posting a large number of fear speech accrue more followers and occupy more central positions in social networks than users posting a large number of hate speech. They can also reach out to benign users more effectively than hate speech users through replies, reposts, and mentions. This connects to the fact that, unlike hate speech, fear speech has almost zero toxic content, making it look plausible. Moreover, while fear speech topics mostly portray a community as a perpetrator using a (fake) chain of argumentation, hate speech topics hurl direct multitarget insults, thus pointing to why general users could be more gullible to fear speech. Our findings transcend even to other platforms (Twitter and Facebook) and thus necessitate using sophisticated moderation policies and mass awareness to combat fear speech.

Why Don't You Take This to a Friend? A Question Psychotherapists Should Ask More Often.

Why Don't You Take This to a Friend? A Question Psychotherapists Should Ask More Often.

Indirect genetic effects for social network structure in Drosophila melanogaster.

The position an individual holds in a social network is dependent on both its direct and indirect social interactions. Because social network position is dependent on the actions and interactions of conspecifics, it is likely that the genotypic composition of individuals within a social group impacts individuals' network positions. However, we know very little about whether social network positions have a genetic basis, and even less about how the genotypic makeup of a social group impacts network positions and structure. With ample evidence indicating that network positions influence various fitness metrics, studying how direct and indirect genetic effects shape network positions is crucial for furthering our understanding of how the social environment can respond to selection and evolve. Using replicate genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, we created social groups that varied in their genotypic makeup. Social groups were videoed, and networks were generated using motion-tracking software. We found that both an individual's own genotype and the genotypes of conspecifics in its social group affect its position within a social network. These findings provide an early example of how indirect genetic effects and social network theory can be linked, and shed new light on how quantitative genetic variation shapes the structure of social groups. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Collective behaviour through time'.

Social network position, trust behavior, and neural activity in young adolescents

Our social interactions take place within numerous social networks, in which our relationships with others define our position within these networks. In this study, we examined how the centrality of positions within social networks was associated with trust behavior and neural activity in 49 adolescents (Mage = 12.8 years, SDage = 0.4 years). The participants played a trust game with a cartoon animation as a partner, which showed adaptive behavior in response to the participant and was generally untrustworthy. Social network positions were obtained in secondary school classrooms where the participants and their classmates reported on who their friends were. Using social network analysis, a score was calculated that indicated the centrality of everyone's position within the friendship network. The results showed that more central social network positions were associated with higher levels of initial trust behavior, although no evidence was found for a relationship between network position and the adaptation of trust behavior. The results of the functional MRI analyses showed that the centrality of the network positions was positively associated with caudate activity when making trust decisions. Furthermore, the adolescents with more central network positions also showed stronger increases of caudate activity when the partner's return was processed compared to the adolescents with less central network positions. The current study provides initial evidence that social network positions in friendship networks relate to socio-cognitive behavior and neural activity in adolescents.