Strength Of Weak Ties Research Articles

The Diffusion of Price-Related Word-of-Mouth: A Study Exploring the Role of Market Mavens and Social Ties

This study sheds light on the process of price-related word-of-mouth by exploring the dissemination of positively and negatively valanced price information as well as the role of social ties and market mavenism. Social ties strengthen the effect of a price change communicated by word-of-mouth on the subsequent dissemination. Market mavens are found to have a higher intention to retransmit price knowledge via word-of-month, which in turn leads to a higher purchase intention. The study extends the accessibility-diagnosticity model, the strength of weak ties, and the theory of group stability to demonstrate that price-related word-of-mouth predominantly represents an opportunity for managers.

The Functionality of Dissimilarity: Pro-Environmental Behavior through Heterogenous Networks

This study explores whether social interaction with dissimilar others can lead to pro-environmental behavior. Dissimilar others are people who differ from the person in question (e.g., in terms of lifestyle or culture). While most research focuses on homogenous social networks (e.g., spatial communities), we explore the potential of network heterophily. Specifically, using data (n = 1370) from the Flemish Survey on Sociocultural Shifts, we examine the relationship between network heterophily and pro-environmental behavior (i.e., shopping decisions and curtailment behavior). Building on Granovetter’s study on ‘the strength of weak ties’, we emphasize the importance of social ties that provide novel information and social expectations. Through interaction with dissimilar others, people may create a heterogeneous network in which a diversity of information and social expectations with regard to pro-environmental behavior circulates. We expect that network heterophily may foster pro-environmental behavior. Our findings indicate that pro-environmental behavior may indeed be positively related to interaction with dissimilar others, partly because people with many dissimilar ties know more about environmental problems and are more concerned about them. This study therefore shows that network heterophily promotes pro-environmental behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of the functionality of dissimilarity and some avenues for future research.

The Strength of Weak Ties and Living Donor Offers: A Multi-Site Social Network Analysis of Hemodialysis Patients

The Strength of Weak Ties and Living Donor Offers: A Multi-Site Social Network Analysis of Hemodialysis Patients

2. Casual Mentorship and the Strength of Weak Ties by Natalia M. Pacheco-Tallaj

2. Casual Mentorship and the Strength of Weak Ties by Natalia M. Pacheco-Tallaj

Social media use and consumer shopping preferences

We empirically explore the associations between social media use at home and shopping preferences using survey data. We focus on popular retail firms including brick-and-mortar firms such as Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, and Best Buy, and online retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Social media use of popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and a general category Other Social Media are analyzed. We find that use of LinkedIn, Skype and Other Social Media at home, in the model without control variables, is associated with shopping at Nordstrom, Walmart and Target. Shopping online at Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart, without control variables in the model specification, is associated with use of Facebook, Skype, Twitter and Other Social Media at home. We report additional insights using an alternative specification that includes social media use at work. Media Richness Theory (MRT) and Strength of Weak Ties from Social Network Analysis (SNA) and related theories help explain our results. Our results have important implications for social marketing campaigns and social media policies for consumer retail firms.

Knowledge sharing, heterophily, and social network dynamics

ABSTRACT This study formulates a model where (i) players are characterized by a knowledge set that changes endogenously by communication and (ii) some players have homophily preferences, while others have heterophily preferences. The study thus demonstrates that heterophilous players bridge different components and extend networks in an early stage and, subsequently, homophilous players take the role of a network hub that maintains network ties. It also illustrates the long-run knowledge distribution. Further, the model is embedded with new structural components that illustrate the strength of weak ties and the small-world phenomenon.

Graphlets in Multiplex Networks

We develop graphlet analysis for multiplex networks and discuss how this analysis can be extended to multilayer and multilevel networks as well as to graphs with node and/or link categorical attributes. The analysis has been adapted for two typical examples of multiplexes: economic trade data represented as a 957-plex network and 75 social networks each represented as a 12-plex network. We show that wedges (open triads) occur more often in economic trade networks than in social networks, indicating the tendency of a country to produce/trade of a product in local structure of triads which are not closed. Moreover, our analysis provides evidence that the countries with small diversity tend to form correlated triangles. Wedges also appear in the social networks, however the dominant graphlets in social networks are triangles (closed triads). If a multiplex structure indicates a strong tie, the graphlet analysis provides another evidence for the concepts of strong/weak ties and structural holes. In contrast to Granovetter’s seminal work on the strength of weak ties, in which it has been documented that the wedges with only strong ties are absent, here we show that for the analyzed 75 social networks, the wedges with only strong ties are not only present but also significantly correlated.

Health Literacy in Diverse Communities: The Strength of Weak Ties—An Exploration between Academic Researchers and Public Libraries in Central New Jersey

Health Literacy in Diverse Communities: The Strength of Weak Ties—An Exploration between Academic Researchers and Public Libraries in Central New Jersey

Does social media use at work lower productivity

We conducted an empirical study that analysed the relationship between the use of social media at work and project success at work. This study adds to the emerging literature on the impact of social media use on organisational outcomes. We found that only one of the four popular social media platforms studied adds value to the workplace. Specifically, we found the use of Facebook at work, whether controlling for age, gender and education or not, to be negatively associated with project success. The use of LinkedIn (with the controls) and the use of other social media (without the controls) were both found to be positively associated with work project success. Other social media was used to capture all other social media platforms, including firm-specific or work-specific social media platforms. We explained our results using social network analysis (SNA), the strength of weak ties and information diffusion theories. Our findings have implications for practice, policy and future research.

Does social media use at work lower productivity

We conducted an empirical study that analysed the relationship between the use of social media at work and project success at work. This study adds to the emerging literature on the impact of social media use on organisational outcomes. We found that only one of the four popular social media platforms studied adds value to the workplace. Specifically, we found the use of Facebook at work, whether controlling for age, gender and education or not, to be negatively associated with project success. The use of LinkedIn (with the controls) and the use of other social media (without the controls) were both found to be positively associated with work project success. Other social media was used to capture all other social media platforms, including firm-specific or work-specific social media platforms. We explained our results using social network analysis (SNA), the strength of weak ties and information diffusion theories. Our findings have implications for practice, policy and future research.

The Strength of Weak Ties: Eliza Haywood’s Social Network in The Dunciad in Four Books (1743)

The Strength of Weak Ties: Eliza Haywood’s Social Network in The Dunciad in Four Books (1743)

The family as (one- or two-step) social capital: mechanisms of support during labor market transitions

ABSTRACT This paper uses a life-history grid to collect narrative data on the labor market transitions of young people aged 20–34 (n = 98) in order to analyze the support provided by relatives in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Drawing on social capital theory, we explore these mechanisms by analysing the flow of resources within family networks (one-step social capital) and how relatives mediate with other agents in the labor market (two-step social capital). Hence, we address the diversity of material, symbolic and informational resources provided by relatives during labor transitions in order to understand the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational reproduction of occupation inequalities. Although the ‘strength of weak ties’ thesis usually associates the use of family networks among disadvantaged groups, our results show that the mobilization of relatives is equally important in upper-class background, in which mechanisms such as nepotism and influence on third-party employers are activated. Among the working classes, family ties help job seekers to reach non-redundant connections in the secondary segment of the labor market. The article contributes by providing a detailed map of the roles played by relatives in a southern European context characterized by precariousness and unemployment.

SURREAL: Subgraph Robust Representation Learning

The success of graph embeddings or nodrepresentation learning in a variety of downstream tasks, such as node classification, link prediction, and recommendation systems, has led to their popularity in recent years. Representation learning algorithms aim to preserve local and global network structure by identifying node neighborhoods. However, many existing network representation learning methods generate embeddings that are still not effective enough, or lead to unstable representations due to random processes (e.g., random walks to generate context) and thus, cannot generalize to multi-graph problems. In this paper, we propose SURREAL, a novel, stable graph embedding algorithmic framework that leverages “spatio-electric” (SE) subgraphs: it learns graph representations using the analogy of graphs with electrical circuits. It preserves both local and global connectivity patterns, and addresses the issue of high-degree nodes that may incidentally connect a pair of nodes in a graph. Further, it exploits the strength of weak ties and meta-data that have been neglected by baselines. The experiments show that SURREAL outperforms state-of-the-art techniques by up to 37% (6% on average) on different multi-label classification problems. Further, in contrast to baseline methods, SURREAL, being deterministic, is stable and thus can generalize to single and multi-graph tasks.

What’sAlterGot to Do with It? A Consideration of Network Content and the Social Ties That Provide It

The strength of weak ties is among the most important theories in the social sciences. One paradoxical element of the theory has been widely understood and valued—that weak ties connect disparate regions of social structure. Less appreciated, however, is the arguably more paradoxical implication that someone only weakly connected to another would provide value beyond that which is provided by the recipient’s (ego’s) strong ties. Once this paradoxical feature of the theory and associated empirical literatures is acknowledged, the interests of the resource provider (alter) demand consideration. To do so faithfully requires first, the concession that different types of content can be transmitted across ties (e.g., financial, informational, physical, social) and content varies in important ways that relate to alter’s interests and concerns. This article considers social network content and the strength of ties that provide different forms of it. The case of startups is used as a fruitful strategic research site because of the varied resources required at various stages of the startup process. Novel insights are proposed concerning what content flows across different types of social relationships in the context of “nascent” entrepreneurship. Examples from other contexts such as job search are also discussed to exemplify scope. Importantly, this article takes the perspective of the resource provider, alter, and considers her concerns about trust, misuse, and unauthorized transfer in dyadic exchange. In the process, a second paradoxical feature of the theory is identified and theorized, which usefully reveals the boundaries of exchange.

THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL TIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL

The sociological aspects of studying human capital, leadership and social ties, are considered in this article. Sociological theories of human capital consider it in its connection with social capital that can be defined as an engagement in social relations, units and networks giving one some benefits. Social ties are the resource of development of human capital. The article shows that human capital can be evaluated from sociological perspective through the role of a creative class and new forms of ties that constitute integration on the intergroup level (weak ties). Such forms of communication significantly expand the sphere of opportunities for human development. The leadership acquires new functions of building nodes of networks that establish and develop social ties on different levels, and contribute to social transformation. Leadership networks demonstrate strength of weak ties that allows leaders to reach their goals through collaboration and sharing information with their own kind and to broad the scope of their activity. There are four types of leadership networks: peer leadership networks, organizational leadership networks, field-policy leadership networks, and collective leadership networks. Study of the leadership networks helps to research forms of communications, factors influencing their intensity, trust among the network’s actors etc. Analysis of the leadership networks includes such objectives as definition of network structure; their dynamics; evaluating ways of communications, and impacts of changes that occur as the result of their activity. Network analysis allows finding out the core and peripheral agents of network, and strong and weak ties between them.

Social networks, accessed and mobilised social capital and the employment status of older workers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of social networks, and the social capital embedded in them, to secure employment if someone had become unemployed after the age of 50 years and to reveal the process of accessing and mobilising that social capital. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a Scottish labour market was undertaken which involved an interview-based survey of those who became unemployed in their early 50’s and tried to regain employment. The interview had structured and unstructured parts which allowed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare those who were successful in regaining work with those who were not. The uniqueness of the paper is the use of social network components while controlling for other socio-economic and demographic variables in job search of older workers. Findings Those older people who were unemployed and, returned to employment (reemployed) had a higher proportion of contacts with higher prestige jobs, their job searching methods were mainly interpersonal and the rate of finding their last job via their social networks was higher than those who remained unemployed. Both groups mobilised social capital (MSC), but those reemployed accessed higher “quality” social capital. “Strong ties”, rather than “weak ties”, were found to be important in accessing and mobilising social capital for the older workers who returned to employment. Research limitations/implications This work is limited to a local labour market and is based on a small but informative sample. However, it does show that policy is required to allow older people to enhance their social networks by strengthening the social capital embedded in the networks. The results support the use of intermediaries as bridges to help compensate for older people who have weak social networks. Besides the policy implications, the paper also has two distinct research implications. First, the use of social network component to the existing literature of older workers’ job search. Second, exploring the type and relational strength with network members to explain older workers’ reemployment. Practical implications The paper illustrates that how accessed and MSC can be measured. Social implications As populations age, this work points to an approach to support older people to re-enter employment and to include them in society. Originality/value The paper extends social network and employment literature to fill gaps on how older people require to both access and mobilise social capital. The importance of “strong ties” in the reemployment of older workers contrasts with much of the literature on younger workers where the “strength of weak ties” so far has been regarded as essential for successful job search. Measures are forwarded to reveal the relevance of social capital. The policy value of the work is in suggesting ways to facilitate older people re-enter or remain in work and hence sustain their well-being.

Границы управляемости в ситуации турбулентности: опыт социологического анализа

The paper reveals the main trends in modern society development in a situation of dynamic changes. Special attention is paid to the identification of differences between management and controllability. Management is a formalized aspect of the collaboration which has a creative, purposeful character. Controllability is a qualitative characteristic of management. Controllability makes it possible to determine the readiness of the management entity to achieve its goals and the level of interaction of management entities with each other. Controllability turns out to be an integral part of the creation and a component of the mechanism that imposes limits on the dynamic management process. The paper highlights the aspects of social turbulence affecting the limits of controllability. They include the butterfly effect, the strength of weak ties, the black swan effect, and the hidden management entity. From the theoretical perspective, the heuristic potential for determining the limits of controllability allows one to identify differences between uncertainty and stability, unpredictability and predictability. In practical terms, the identification of limits contributes to the development of controllability meters at the level of personal competence, occupational and social mobility.

The Strength of Weak Ties

It happens every time I travel—whether for work or pleasure. If I am attending a professional conference, to meet a new client, begin a new project, conduct a workshop or presentation, mentor at Chicago's healthcare technology incubator or even at a sporting event, I either run into someone I know, someone I met briefly on a prior occasion, or I meet someone new, but we share common connections with at least 1 (and sometimes more) colleagues. When traveling with my husband, he always mentions he cannot take me anywhere without running into someone! What also happens, especially at professional conferences or meetings, is I find myself constantly introducing new colleagues to one another for the purpose of networking, which inevitably leads to colleagues asking me how I know so many people. The answer is I work diligently at building, maintaining, and using my network.

Role of Social and Sexual Network Factors in PrEP Utilization Among YMSM and Transgender Women in Chicago.

Despite demonstrated efficacy, uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) remains low, particularly among high-risk demographics such as transgender women, Black men who have sex with men (BMSM), and young MSM (YMSM). Research thus far has largely focused on individual factors that may impede PrEP uptake in these demographics, leaving social network factors relatively unexplored. The present study used data collected from participants within RADAR, a longitudinal cohort study in Chicago focused on understanding the individual, dyadic, network, social, and biologic factors associated with HIV infection within YMSM. Of the 906 study participants who did not report an HIV diagnosis at baseline, 7.0% reported using PrEP in the prior 6months. Recent PrEP use was associated with both individual-level (age and gender) and network-level factors (mean relationship strength, sexual network degree, etc.). These findings highlight the need to expand beyond focusing on individual-level drivers of PrEP uptake, as well as changing our understanding of who is most important within a network (centrality vs. strength of weak ties). Future work is needed to determine whether variables associated with PrEP uptake are similarly connected to PrEP adherence.

Залученість до акції протесту: слабкі vs сильні соціальні зв’язки

This article dwells upon the importance of finding methods and ways of studying protest behaviour that can explain its emergence. Protest behaviour is considered as the result of protest engagement. It is assumed that there are social ties between individuals, potential protesters. M. Granovetter proposes to distinguish strong ties and weak ties. Strong ties tend to form closed and cohesive groups but weak ties can be the bridges that match groups and/or individuals. The author of this article conducts a research with applying a method of agent-based modelling. Its aim is to test the Granovetter’s thesis about the strength of weak ties towards protest behaviour. In this research the linear threshold model is used. Our research with applying method of the agent-based modelling includes the computer experiments (simulations) with the social networks. There are generated five networks, three of which contain only strong ties and the rest of the networks contain only weak ties. Simulations with the networks allow us to determine the number of inactive agents that are involved in the protest, the speed of the protest engagement and the effectiveness of overcoming the resistance of inactive agents. It is found that both weak ties and strong ties can determine protest behaviour. Strong ties contribute to a quicker protest engagement. Weak ties can better overcome the resistance of inactive agents. At the same time weak ties slow down the process of the protest engagement and strong ties are generally less effective in overcoming the resistance of inactive agents. Agent-based modelling helps us to conduct the fundamental research. On the one hand we test Granovetter’s thesis about the strength of weak ties towards protest behaviour. On the other hand we cannot draw conclusions about protest behaviour in Ukraine. But we can conduct an empirical sociological study in order to test the results of our research and understand its relevance towards protest behaviour in Ukraine.