Strength Of Weak Ties Research Articles

The role and value of professional membership for emergency nurses: What are the key elements?

Granovetter (1973) wrote on the ‘Strength of Weak Ties’, even though published all those years ago, there was value and recognition placed on the strength of smaller group interactions and how they can impact on more macro level patterns, the same sociological theory holds true today. There are strengths in professional memberships, whether they are conducted on a small or large scale. They are powerful vessels for nurses to have impactful interactions. We recognize that professional memberships for nursing are available globally, whether that is through a local, national, or international organization. They offer a broad range of opportunities including education, bursaries, conferences, networking, and leadership opportunities. They are seen to connect and engage with peers and in some countries professional organizations also drive change, politically lobby, or even offer professional indemnity insurance or union support. Despite a strong presence in nursing professional organizations, the evidence shows that membership is declining or staying stagnant, and it is growing more difficult to bring nurses together through these channels. So, the question must be asked, ‘Why do nurses not strongly engage with professional organizations?’ This study focuses on emergency nurses to gain a greater understanding of drivers for professional membership and engagement.

사회적 연결은 득인가 실인가: 사회적 연결의 이점과 비용에 관한 연구 동향과 과제

Network theory has traditionally focused on social ties as its primary subject of study, investigating patterns of linkages and relationships among actors and the ensuing social structures from various perspectives. This paper reviews the extant literature on both the positive and negative effects of social ties and social networks. It transcends the mainstream research tradition that has predominantly emphasized positive impacts, presenting domestic and international studies that explore the constraints and costs engendered by social ties, including the excessive homogenization they can cause. Specifically, the paper delves into Granovetter’s (1973) “strength of weak ties” theory, Burt’s (1992, 1995) structural hole theory, which addresses both the patterns of connections and relationships between actors and the resultant structures, and Coleman's (1990) concept of network closure, which underscores the overall structure of social networks. In doing so, this paper presents core tenets of these theories and critically evaluates the current state of knowledge as presented in leading domestic and international management and sociology journals. Finally, considering the implications of networks and their social ties for organizational research, alongside the ease with which individuals can now join various networks through the rapid development of online and mobile social networking sites, the paper underscores the importance of focusing on the costs and constraints that actors face when navigating numerous social connections. It also highlights the necessity of being wary of confirmation bias caused by suggestion algorithms embedded in online sites and proposes directions for future research.

Reaching out beyond the national border? How far‐right actors in Germany and Norway evaluate transnationalism

AbstractResearch has emphasised the importance of far‐right transnationalism, in terms of both ideology and practice. Yet, the literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of how far‐right actors themselves reflect their transnational practices (or lack thereof), such as party‐level exchange, joint protest events, or online communication. Drawing on original interview data from Germany and Norway, our research unveils that while far‐right ‘nationalists’ generally endorse transnational activities, only a minority actively participates. The interviewees perceive transnational practices as opportunities for strategic learning, showcasing of collective strength, and networking. Simultaneously, they express concerns about being associated with extremists and getting entangled in conflict‐ridden areas. Theoretically, we discuss the role of ideology and everyday life as well as the importance of only limited strategic incentives for understanding far‐right transnationalism. In doing so, we draw parallels to experiences made by left‐wing actors. Moreover, we underline the potential of Granovetter's ‘strength of weak ties’ for far‐right diffusion.

The strength of a weak tie in the innovative performance of firms: A case of Korean high‐tech manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises

AbstractThis study explores whether the ‘strength of weak ties’ theory, derived from social network theory, can equally apply to business activities. To address this question, we conduct an empirical analysis, utilising 3‐year panel data encompassing 3881 samples of Korean small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the high‐tech manufacturing sector. The primary objective is to examine the effects of inter‐corporate tie strength on innovative performance. The results reveal an interesting pattern in high‐tech manufacturing corporations, where the strength of a tie demonstrates an inverted U‐shaped relationship with an SME's patent achievement. Moreover, we observe that the effect of tie strength on an SME's patent achievement is positively moderated by its research and development (R&D) intensity. Furthermore, when an SME maintains weak ties within its relationship with a large corporation, its innovative performance experiences a more positive impact than in cases where no relationship with a large corporation exists, or strong ties are maintained. These findings suggest that for SMEs, maintaining an appropriate level of embeddedness with large corporations is an effective strategy for generating sustained innovative performance within an environment characterised by active technological innovation and intense competition. The principal contribution of this paper lies in the empirical validation of the theory of weak ties concerning a firm's innovative performance.

The role of social networks in the formation of transnational higher education partnership: a case study of a British university and a Qatari education institute

ABSTRACT Transnational higher education (TNE) became the dominant higher education arrangement in the Middle East. This article reports on the role of individuals in setting up TNE partnerships between a Qatari educational institute (A) and a British university (B). It aims to understand ‘How do the individual relationship dynamics shape the establishment of a TNE partnership between (A and B)?’ we interviewed Six individuals who participated in the establishment of the partnership, and analysed the data thematically. The theories of ‘Social Capital’ and ‘the Strength of Weak Ties’ enabled us to understand the findings that revealed three main themes: Social Networks, Trusted Friendship, and Shared Benefits. The study could offer higher education administrators, policymakers, and practitioners valuable insights into the importance of social networks.

The weakness of common job contacts

Many people obtain job information from friends and acquaintances. However, one factor influencing labor-market outcomes that is ignored in the literature is the presence of overlapping friendship circles in social networks. We find that overlapping friendship networks produce correlated information flows, resulting in an increased probability of two events: either receiving redundant job offers or receiving no job offers at all. Consequently, people with common contact networks exhibit worse employment prospects even if they have the same number of information providers and compete with the same number of people for vacancies. In quantitative terms, the impact of overlapping friendship circles rivals that of the number of direct contacts and contacts’ contacts. This implies that the results in Calvó-Armengol (2004) only apply for networks where people’s friends are neither connected nor have common contacts. Because overlapping friendship circles are a crucial aspect of strong relationships, our findings uncover an alternative mechanism behind “The Strength of Weak Ties” (Granovetter, 1973): their ability to maintain independence in job information flows. We further show that people with common job contacts earn lower incomes on average. However, conditional on being employed, their expected wage is higher because they can take advantage of the multiple job offers received by selecting the one with the highest pay.

Civil Society and Social Integration of Asylum Seekers: The ‘Strength of Weak Ties’ and the Dynamics of ‘Strategic Action Fields’

The dramatic increase of asylum seekers entering the EU in 2015 profoundly changed migration politics in many EU countries. Not least in Sweden which accepted more migrants per capita than any other EU country but then swung abruptly to become among the strictest recipient countries. We use Sweden as a critical and extreme case to argue that the rapid shift in asylum politics and public opinion towards migration is not profoundly shared in society. Based on a local media analysis of three types of purposively selected rural municipalities followed by the analysis of a survey of civil society organizations sent to all 290 municipalities in Sweden, we find strong civil society support and willingness to both receive migrants and facilitate their integration into society. Despite increasing votes for political parties with anti-migration policies, we also find remarkably positive attitudes towards migrants in civil society organizations and among citizens in the EU27 barometer for Sweden. The upshot is optimism that civil society can balance the anti-immigration governance imposed by both left and right political regimes and that populism will succeed only if it has the capacity to thoroughly transform civil society attitudes—which we doubt.

What Makes Weak Ties Strong?

We raise two challenges concerning the validity of arguments underlying Granovetter's strength of weak ties (SWT) thesis: ( a) whether weak ties are actually bridges, i.e., they help reach more socially distant actors than strong ties, and ( b) whether weak ties transmit information effectively enough so that weak ties’ alleged structural properties make them more useful than strong ties. In the course of reviewing subsequent research that has made progress in addressing these challenges, we identify both potential limits and possibilities for the SWT thesis. We argue for the importance of identifying how actors’ agency—i.e., the way people use their ties—may affect social networks’ value. We conclude by summarizing some outstanding questions that progress on the SWT thesis has generated.

Persistence and strengths of informal networks: clientelism in the post-Soviet Union

In this theoretical study, we challenge two prevalent assumptions in the international business domain: the 'disappearance of informal networks' and the 'strength of weak ties' assumptions. Drawing on cultural as well as informality studies, we explore the phenomenon of clientelism and its characteristics in the post-Soviet Union. We argue that informal ties based on patron-client relations are neither disappearing nor is weakness a characteristic that makes them strong. We propose that diverse clientelistic ties appear to persist in the post-Soviet Union, as they are culturally embedded and dynamically adjust to changes in the environment. Finally, we argue that the nature of clientelism is paradoxical: on the one hand, it is prone to favouritism, but when it comes to weak governments, clientelistic practices may, on the other hand, be seen as an effective means to overcome social boundaries by connecting persons of different social classes.

Intracellular and intercellular transport of RNA organelles in CXG repeat disorders: The strength of weak ties.

RNA is a vital biomolecule, the function of which is tightly spatiotemporally regulated. RNA organelles are biological structures that either membrane-less or surrounded by membrane. They are produced by the all the cells and indulge in vital cellular mechanisms. They include the intracellular RNA granules and the extracellular exosomes. RNA granules play an essential role in intracellular regulation of RNA localization, stability and translation. Aberrant regulation of RNA is connected to disease development. For example, in microsatellite diseases such as CXG repeat expansion disorders, the mutant CXG repeat RNA's localization and function are affected. RNA is not only transported intracellularly but can also be transported between cells via exosomes. The loading of the exosomes is regulated by RNA-protein complexes, and recent studies show that cytosolic RNA granules and exosomes share common content. Intracellular RNA granules and exosome loading may therefore be related. Exosomes can also transfer pathogenic molecules of CXG diseases from cell to cell, thereby driving disease progression. Both intracellular RNA granules and extracellular RNA vesicles may serve as a source for diagnostic and treatment strategies. In therapeutic approaches, pharmaceutical agents may be loaded into exosomes which then transport them to the desired cells/tissues. This is a promising target specific treatment strategy with few side effects. With respect to diagnostics, disease-specific content of exosomes, e.g., RNA-signatures, can serve as attractive biomarker of central nervous system diseases detecting early physiological disturbances, even before symptoms of neurodegeneration appear and irreparable damage to the nervous system occurs. In this review, we summarize the known function of cytoplasmic RNA granules and extracellular vesicles, as well as their role and dysfunction in CXG repeat expansion disorders. We also provide a summary of established protocols for the isolation and characterization of both cytoplasmic and extracellular RNA organelles.

Creating the Conditions for Intergenerational Justice: Social Capital and Compliance

Creating the Conditions for Intergenerational Justice: Social Capital and Compliance

What (Exactly) Is Novelty in Networks? Unpacking the Vision Advantages of Brokers, Bridges, and Weak Ties

The strength of weak ties and brokerage theory both rely on the argument that weak bridging ties deliver novel information to create “vision advantages” for actors in brokerage positions. However, our conceptualization of novelty is itself fundamentally underdeveloped. We, therefore, develop a theory of how three distinct types of novelty—diversity, non-redundancy, and uniqueness—combine with network structure to create vision advantages in social networks. We test this theory using panel data on an evolving corporate email network. Three main results emerge from our analysis. First, we confirm the diversity-bandwidth tradeoff (DBT) at the heart of the vision advantage. As brokers’ networks become more diverse, their channel bandwidth contracts, creating countervailing effects on access to novel information. Second, we uncover a mechanism driving the DBT, which helps explain differences in vision advantages across strong and weak ties. Strong, cohesive ties deliver greater information diversity and non-redundancy, whereas weak bridging ties contribute the most unique information (the information that is most different from what other contacts deliver). Third, we find network diversity (in contrast to network constraint) to be positively associated with longitudinal entropy, a measure of the accumulation of novel information over time. This suggests that weak bridging ties, which provide the most unique information through low bandwidth, structurally diverse channels, contribute the most to one’s aggregation of novel information over time. Collectively, these results take a step toward resolving a long-standing debate in network theory about whether strong, cohesive networks or weak bridging networks contribute more to vision advantages. This work firmly establishes that it depends.This paper was accepted by Kartik Hosanagar, information systems.Supplemental Material: The code and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4377 .

The Transformation of Social Bonds During a Period of Intensified Online Studying and Work Caused by the SARS-CoV2 Pandemic—the Case of Poland

Classic sociology evaluates and explores changes in social bonds. The last discussion on significant changes in social bonds at Polish universities took place when they experienced a deep transformation after the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in 1989. Thirty years later, the period of lockdown triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided an interesting opportunity to examine how social order is created and social bonds developed without direct, face-to-face interactions. The authors use the schema of social bond formation by Jan Szczepański to analyze the nature of the stages and elements of social bonds built during a time of enforced indirect methods of teaching, studying, working and communicating in general. The article presents the results of research (survey CAWI) conducted on a sample of 555 students of three Polish universities representing various fields of study (divided in the article into two categories: technical and non-technical). The results exhibit the significance of gender and the field of study in adjusting to the new circumstances of online learning including the impeded process of creating social bonds (especially at the very beginning of studies when direct contacts are needed). The authors discuss the consequences of weakening social bonds within academia whilst also referring to the phenomena of social capital, the strength of weak ties and dormant ties.

Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from Self-Help Groups in rural India

• Can membership of self-help groups (SHGs), designed for enhancing livelihoods, create social capital for women? • We find that it can, even when the livelihoods are negligible. • Membership of SHGs increases personal efficacy and propensity for collective action. • Social capital generated by SHG membership is a significant positive impact as it strengthens the process of women’s empowerment. The “strength of weak ties” has been established in the context of labour market outcomes, with theoretical and empirical investigation showing how weak ties lead to an increase in mobility and job opportunities. The impact of weak ties on community organisation is less well understood. We contribute to this literature by investigating if weak ties, generated via membership of livelihood programmes, can lead to the creation or enhancement of social capital. Based on data from one of the largest independent primary surveys for India, we find that participation in self-help groups had little impact on livelihoods, but led to the creation of significant social capital, as measured by indicators related to personal efficacy and collective action. We use Entropy Balancing to estimate mean effects to tackle the problem of non-random selection into the programme. In contrast to the bulk of existing evidence on livelihood programmes that is based on small samples, our large sample size and innovative survey design allow us to detect a larger number of effects with greater certainty. We argue that the social capital generated by the programme is a significant positive impact (even though the main target of the programme is to strengthen livelihoods), as it strengthens the process of women’s empowerment.

「The strength of weak ties」が拓いた地平

「The strength of weak ties」が拓いた地平

A good way to talk. A comparative analysis of communication choices in China, Denmark and the US

ABSTRACT The article presents a comparative analysis of how people manage ways of communicating with their social ties. It thereby makes a qualitative contribution to the social ties literature [Granovetter, 1973. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. doi:10.1086/225469], which is dominated by quantitative approaches. Specifically, the article maps different criteria that people consider when they combine the affordances [Hutchby, 2001. The communicative affordances of technological artefacts. In Conversation and technology, from the telephone to the Internet (pp. 13–33). Polity Press] of various types of communication in their interaction with different social ties. The qualitative analysis is based on ethnographic fieldwork in China, Denmark and the US, adopting and adapting a shared interview-diary-interview method in each field site (Lai, S. S., Pagh, J., & Zeng, F. H. (2019). Tracing Communicative Patterns. Nordicom Review, 40(s1). https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-001.). Despite apparent sociocultural and infrastructural differences between the national contexts, we find that people, guided by universal aspects of sociality, share five criteria, namely efficiency, sensibility, ephemerality, insistency, and availability, that ground their everyday communications with both strong and weak ties.

Exploring the Value of Nodes with Multicommunity Membership for Classification with Graph Convolutional Neural Networks

Sampling is an important step in the machine learning process because it prioritizes samples that help the model best summarize the important concepts required for the task at hand. The process of determining the best sampling method has been rarely studied in the context of graph neural networks. In this paper, we evaluate multiple sampling methods (i.e., ascending and descending) that sample based off different definitions of centrality (i.e., Voterank, Pagerank, degree) to observe its relation with network topology. We find that no sampling method is superior across all network topologies. Additionally, we find situations where ascending sampling provides better classification scores, showing the strength of weak ties. Two strategies are then created to predict the best sampling method, one that observes the homogeneous connectivity of the nodes, and one that observes the network topology. In both methods, we are able to evaluate the best sampling direction consistently.

The Strength of Weak and Strong Ties in Bridging Geographic and Cognitive Distances

The proximity framework has attracted considerable attention in a scholarly discourse on the driving forces of knowledge exchange tie formation. It has been discussed that too much proximity is negatively associated with the effectiveness of a knowledge exchange relation. However, little is known about the key factors that trigger the formation of the boundaryspanning knowledge ties. Going beyond the “dyadic” perspective on proximity dimensions, this paper argues that the key factor in bridging distances may reside at the “triadic” level. We build on the notion of “the strength of weak ties” and its recent development by investigating the innovative performance and relations of more than 600,000 German firms. We explored and extracted information from the textual and relational content of firms’ websites by using machine learning techniques and hyperlink analysis. We thereby proxied the innovative performance of firms using a deep learning text analysis approach and showed that the triadic property of bridging dyadic relations is a reliable predictor of firms’ innovativeness. Relations embedded in cliques (i.e., strong ties) that connect cognitively distant firms are more strongly associated with firms’ innovation, whereas inter-regional relations connecting different parts of a network (i.e., weak ties) are positively associated with firms’ innovative performance. Also, the results suggest that a combination of strong inter-community and weak inter-regional relations are more positively related with firms’ innovativeness compared to the combination of other relation types.

Social capital of managers and firm operational performance of SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City

Operational efficiency, a dominant concern for businesses, is always an issue for the researchers to find the solutions for helping the businesses enhance their corporate performance. In previous studies on the performance of enterprises in general and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, most of the studies focused on financial factors, but did not pay much attention to nonfinancial factors. Operational efficiency depends on financial and non-financial factors, of which, non-financial factors are diverse (human capital, social capital, psychological capital, non-financial risk, management efficiency, etc.). theory, applied science, etc). Social capital is a new area of research in Vietnam, which is closely related to the economic field. In Vietnam, interdisciplinary theoretical applied research is a new research trend (economic theory combined with social theory), which this study follows. The study applies the social capital theory ``The strength of weak ties'' of Granovetter, theory ``The network Structure: of Burt and ``A Network theory of social capital'' of Lin to examine the influence of social capital on firm performance. The research model comprises 5 factions of independent variables representing social capital (Relational (REH), Cognitive (CSC), Social Interaction Ties (SIT), Trust (TRU) and Structural (SSC) and a group of dependent variables (Firn Operational Performance). Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze data collected from a survey of 378 SME managers in Ho Chi Minh City based on a convenient method. The analysis results demonstrate that all aspects of social capital have positive effects on business operational performance, of which Structural Social Capital (SSC) and trust (TRU) are the two most influential groups. The research results help business administrators better understand social capital's importance, thereby improving business performance through maintaining and developing managers' social capital.

Allyship, Antiracism and the Strength of Weak Ties: A Barber, a Professor and an Entrepreneur Walk Into a Room

COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter are urgent challenges that are knocking on the health promotion profession's door. The obvious tactic for those who aspire to be trusted allies is to answer. This editorial defines health promotion allyship as a continuous process where those who are part of in groups, such as white males, seek to build trust with, and provide visible advocacy for, out groups such as Black people. We will know we are effective allies only when we are recognized as such by out groups. The public health anti-racism movement started by Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones is summarized along with the introduction of a framework that can serve as a call to action for the health promotion profession. The exemplary allyship that occurred at an event later coined as The Lincoln Cottage Assembly is also described.