Formation Of Ties Research Articles

When Less Is More: The Effects of Reciprocal Tie Formations on Content Generation

The ever-increasing volume of user-generated content (UGC) makes discovery of quality ones more and more challenging for content consumers. To mitigate the issue, content sites started to introduce social networks that are exclusive for providers. In such directed networks, a content provider can initiate unilateral outgoing ties to promote other peers, who in turn decide whether to reciprocate or not. Despite the prevalence of this networking feature, however, little work has sought to understand the effects that the formation of reciprocal ties might have on content-generating behaviors of reciprocated providers. We develop a hierarchical Bayesian model and estimate it using the UGC data collected from a major video content site. Our results show that social reciprocity has two opposite effects on the volume and the quality of subsequent content generation. Specifically, although providers tend to upload fewer videos after receiving reciprocal ties, the reduced productivity might not be as detrimental as it appears. Receipts of tie reciprocation, in effect, encourage reciprocated providers to create videos that are better appreciated by viewers. Taken together, the uncovered effects give rise to a “less is more” UGC environment for content consumers. A more granular investigation reveals that providers with fewer subscribers are more susceptible to the positive effect of reciprocity on content quality, which may help alleviate the prevalent “rich-get-richer” phenomenon observed on content sites. This research makes novel contributions to the literature by identifying the heterogeneous effects of social reciprocity in prevalent yet underexplored provider-to-provider networks.

On Agency and its Limits: The Asymmetric Effects of Offsites on Network Tie Formation

Corporate offsite meetings are a multi-billion-dollar industry, premised on the assumption that they play a crucial role in intra-organizational collaboration. In this paper, we empirically examine offsites – for the first time, to our knowledge – as opportunity shocks for intra-organizational networking and catalysts for meaningful changes in an organization’s collaboration network. We find that attending an offsite leads participants to significantly increase the number of new network ties that they initiate, but that people who are unable to attend the offsite similarly increase their network outreach, suggesting deliberate compensatory behavior. However, attendees also receive more incoming requests from new collaborators following offsites, a benefit that does not accrue to non-attendees. These results are consistent with a conceptualization of opportunities as affecting network change in two distinct ways: through the changes the individual makes in her own network, which are subject to individual agency, and through the decisions made by others, which also shape the focal individual’s network, but which fall outside of the focal individual’s agency. Integrating the traditional egocentric perspective with an “altercentric” perspective moves us closer to understanding both an individual’s agency to shape her evolving network and the limits on that agency.

“Birds of a Feather”: Homophilous Networks of Graduate Fellows across Academic Disciplines and Cultural Backgrounds

Sharing homophily in cultural background (nationalities) and academic disciplines may be said to grant a base for actors to closely interact, share information, advise, support, trust, and collaborate among themselves. However, this might not necessarily restrict forming ties along these lines with other actors from other nationalities and academic disciplines, as far as they work in the same academic environment. Using social network analysis, this paper examines homophilous networks (associating and bonding with similar others) and formation of ties across nationalities and academic disciplines among graduate fellows in Global Human Development PhD programme. The fndings demonstrate existence of strong ties across nationalities and academic disciplines among actors in homophilous networks. This suggests persistence of other attributes necessary for the formation of ties and networks in addition to homophily in nationalities and academic disciplines. The paper urges for a need to undertake a broader study of this nature to encompass more attributes of the patterns of the relations between actors of the studied group or any other similar group.

Formation of industrial enterprises adaptation links at innovative cluster

The alternative approaches to the definition of the concept of and communication are investigated. The role of adaptation in ensuring the competitiveness of an industrial enterprise as part of an innovative production cluster is determined. The theoretical issues of the formation of a system of adaptation of enterprises to environmental conditions are investigated. It is shown that the processes of economic transformation, which are characteristic of the national innovation environment, and the processes of globalization are the reason for rethinking the current and strategic tasks of the enterprise. Changes in the adaptive environment under the influence of globalization are analyzed. The influence of the competitive environment on factors of economic efficiency of the enterprise is considered. The essence of the clustering of economic relations in the creation of a single economic mechanism is revealed. It is proved that thanks to the system of adaptive ties, the development of which is ensured by the cluster, a synergistic effect is created. A classification system for cluster adaptation links is proposed. The main vector in this classification defines the characteristics of the types of economic activity. It is shown that the partnership efficiency depends on them. The factors that ensure the development of the adaptation linkages cluster in a competitive environment are disclosed. A methodology for the formation of adaptive ties of industrial enterprises is proposed .

Giving and receiving feedback - role play exercise

Drawing inspiration from one element of a management development programme at a large, international airline the author had helped co-design, this role play exercise was utilised in its current form as part of an experiential, two-week long MBA professional development skills induction programme. It was designed to help accelerate the formation of strong ties amongst a group of international, post-experience business school Master’s students. However, it was later also successfully deployed as an ice breaker/team building exercise for the School of Management’s group of Undergraduate Student Ambassadors, who were employed part-time during applicant visit and open days to represent the department. It might also be deployed as part of a personal tutoring or career development programme, or even within a vocationally oriented management and leadership module. The session is designed to encourage extensive student participation, and much of the 60 to 90 minutes required to successfully run this intervention should see students working in pairs or discussing their reflections in small groups. This exercise requires no prior preparation from students, and the concise role play scenarios are simultaneously both succinct and sufficiently rich, the material can be quickly absorbed and embodied in a relatively short period of time. In an increasingly competitive environment where students often identify feedback as the lowest rated satisfaction measure (see: Ferguson, 2011; Canning, 2018), this instructional guide provides university tutors with an additional, rich tool that has been shown, over many iterations, to help develop important soft skills (Ritter, Small, Mortimer & Doll, 2018).

Proximity and centrality in inter-organisational collaborations for innovation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the different drivers of the establishment of innovation relationships in an aerospace cluster. In particular, the work investigates the impact of the various forms of proximity in the formation of inter-organisational collaborations for innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on primary data collected through interviews and questionnaires on innovation collaborations, administered to all the firms operating in the aerospace cluster in Tuscany. The work applies social network analysis and Exponential Random Graph Models to analyse the forces that drive inter-organisational collaborations for innovation.FindingsResults confirm the importance of geographical proximity in the formation of ties in the cluster, but social proximity is one of the main drivers for tie formation. Reciprocity shows that companies develop innovations in a reciprocal way and that most relationships are bidirectional. Triadic closure is also relevant, where the role played by trust and previous relationships is evident. Finally, hierarchy network processes are underlined, where the most central actors of the network are the most popular confirming a processes of preferential attachment. The central organisations gradually are more important, whereas the marginal ones are left in the periphery.Originality/valueThe work presents some novelties. First, it measures the different impacts of the various forms of proximity together with more advanced measures of network analysis. It allows pointing out the relevance of a firm’s network position in clusters and the fact that clusters assume hierarchical structures similar to centre-periphery networks, where most relevant nodes are in the inner core and marginal organisations are relegated.

Social capital and social ties in organisations: a case study of two voluntary sports clubs

PurposeIf social capital is understood as the ability to access resources through social ties, it is clearly important to understand how people form social ties and what types of ties they form. Research has sought to do this, but it has seldom directly examined how organisations shape these processes and outcomes. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth, comparative case study research was conducted at two voluntary sport organisations in the UK, involving 23 in-depth interviews and participant observation over a 15-month period.FindingsThe case studies showed how key organisational practices structured, in meaningful ways, people’s opportunities for interaction and the nature of that interaction, shaping the ways in which they formed ties and exchanged resources. The organisations fostered the formation of both strong and weak ties, but also “compartmentally intimate” ties.Research limitations/implicationsThe research challenges individualistic, rational choice accounts of tie formation, highlighting the role of organisations as brokers. In addition, interviewees’ accounts challenge well-accepted distinctions between strong and weak ties, by demonstrating the importance of ongoing, context-specific interaction.Originality/valueThis research offers a rare, direct insight into the role of organisations in shaping people’s ongoing social relationships. In doing so, it problematises existing conceptualisations of social capital and social ties and highlights an alternative, organisationally embedded, process-based perspective on social capital.

Soccer and hometown associations of Mexican migrants in Chicago: the case of San Rafael

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between soccer and Mexican hometown associations (HTAs), organizations formed by migrants from the same locality in order to raise funds for community development projects in their place of origin. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Chicago and Michoacán – including participation in San Rafael, a soccer team named after a rural town in Mexico – the article identifies the mechanisms whereby this sport contributes to the formation and maintenance of translocal ties. It shows that, through the crystallization of sentiments of attachment to migrants’ hometown, soccer games can create a favourable environment for them to sponsor the HTA’s activities.

Do Senegal à Pelotas, RS: migração, identidade e violência

Este artigo é um desdobramento de uma etnografia realizada junto a um coletivo de imigrantes senegaleses, que viveram (ou vivem, em número bastante reduzido) essa diáspora na cidade de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), onde se viram diante de forte repressão em suas atividades como vendedores ambulantes de inúmeros produtos. No trabalho foram descritas experiências vivenciadas desde 2015 com esse coletivo, em que a observação participante se transformou e se intercalou no envolvimento e em mediações perante o poder público local e organizações da sociedade civil, relacionadas a perspectivas teóricas que se debruçam sobre a diáspora negra, a identidade e a colonialidade. Especificamente nesta pesquisa com imigrantes oriundos do Senegal, são abordadas algumas (re)configurações da identidade, assim como estratégias de inserção nesse processo migratório, que em determinados momentos se apresentou a eles de forma hostil em função da repressão policial, mas que também permitiu a formação de laços com a população local.

Online Tie Formation in Enterprise Social Media

We study the antecedents to tie formation on an (Facebook-like) enterprise social media platform implemented to support cross-boundary connections. Research has produced mixed findings regarding the role of social media in cultivating bridging vs. closed networks. We examine the tie formation patterns of 1,386 enterprise social media users over a two-year period. Specifically, we observe who became (or chose not s become) “friends” with whom at the dyadic level and relate the decisions to various mechanisms that affect one’s network to expand, constrain, or bridge. Using logistic and OLS regressions, we find that users tend to form ties via reciprocity and transitivity (with friends of friends), both of which help expand one’s network. We also find strong networking tendency toward functional and hierarchical homophily (same business unit and same rank, respectively), which is likely to constrain one’s network (closed network structure). We find that one’s participation in various online interest groups is likely to open one’s network (bridging network structure) while no evidence found for preferential attachment. Overall, we find that enterprise social media offers features, some of which are likely to foster bridging while others foster closed networks via different mechanisms.

The quest for legitimacy and the communication of strategic cross-sectoral partnership on Facebook: A big data study

Nowadays, many wicked problems such as environmental issues require organizations from multiple sectors to form cross-sectoral alliances. Cross-sectoral alliance networks can transfer resources and signal affiliations and value alignment between strategic partners. The communication of cross-sectoral alliances is a form of CSR communication that serves organizations’ strategic goals and objectives. Drawing on the literature on digital CSR communication and legitimacy theory, this article examines which legitimacy needs shape the formation of cross-sectoral ties on Facebook in addressing environmental and sustainable development issues in the United States. Combining data-mining, text-mining, social network analysis, and exponential graph modeling, this research investigates the structure of a network among 3071 organizations across multiple sectors. Findings show that organizations’ cross-sectoral tie formation is mainly driven by social legitimacy and alliance legitimacy needs.

Theory of statistics of ties, loops, and tails in semicrystalline polymers.

Polymer crystals grown from melts consist of alternating lamellar crystalline regions and amorphous regions. We study the statistics of ties: chains which bridge the adjacent lamellae, loops: chains which come out of one lamella and enter back into the same lamella before reaching the other lamellae, and tails: chains which end in an amorphous region. We develop a theory to calculate the probabilities of formation of ties, loops, and tails with consideration of finite chain length and cooperative incorporation of a chain into multiple lamellae. The results of our numerical calculations based on a field-theoretic formalism show that the fraction of ties increases with increasing chain length, and it decreases with increasing interlamellar separation. In the limiting case of an infinite chain confined between only two walls, we recover the classical results of the gambler's ruin model. We show that the density anomaly encountered in previous theories is avoided naturally in the present theory without forcing the majority of stems to form tight loops. The derived results on the probability of tie chains in the amorphous regions are pertinent to the mechanical properties of semicrystalline polymers.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Early and Nonmarital Fertility, and Women's Health at Midlife.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have powerful consequences for health and well-being throughout the life course. We draw on evidence that exposure to ACEs shapes developmental processes central to emotional regulation, impulsivity, and the formation of secure intimate ties to posit that ACEs shape the timing and context of childbearing, which in turn partially mediate the well-established effect of ACEs on women's later-life health. Analysis of 25 years of nationally representative panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79; n = 3,893) indicates that adverse childhood experiences predict earlier age at first birth and greater odds of having a nonmarital first birth. Age and marital status at first birth partially mediate the effect of ACEs on women's health at midlife. Implications for public health and family policy aimed at improving maternal and child well-being are discussed.

Megamalls as sites for social interaction: A case study of Shoprite and Ventura, Ibadan, Nigeria

This paper looks deeply into megamalls as sites for social interaction; a case study of Shoprite and Ventura, Ibadan. Shopping as a commercial activity involves social dimension as well as consumption while mega mall changes local consumption and urban environments dramatically. People come to malls basically for consumerist fantasies and a common ground for sociability. In-depth interviews were conducted with fun seekers/patrons and mall authorities in the rank of managers in the organisations. The interview materials were recorded, thematically coded, transcribed, and analyzed qualitatively. Findings showed that megamalls were found to provides four different social functions which include the opportunities for social interaction, building and formation of social ties, social mixing and blending across social groups and divide as well as all-inclusive society. Based on literature perused and information gathered through sight-seeing and interviews, it can be concluded that Shoprite and Ventura in Ibadan metropolis are indeed sites for social interaction. It is therefore recommended that more megamalls should be made available to create avenues for enjoyment and recreation. There is a need for public-private partnerships to galvanize the maintenance of such platforms if owned by the Government. Keywords: Megamalls, Social Interaction, Urban centers, Development

Spinoffs and tie formation in cluster knowledge networks

It is generally acknowledged that in order to have access to locally accumulated industrial knowledge, firms have to collaborate and take part in cluster knowledge networks. This study argues that the inherited capabilities of spinoff enable them to cooperate and exchange knowledge more easily and to gain more from positive knowledge externalities in clusters. The basis of the analysis is a relational dataset on a printing and paper product cluster in Hungary, and I use exponential random graph models to explain the formation of knowledge ties. I demonstrate that besides geographical proximity, ownership similarity and network structural effects, being a spinoff company enhances tie formation in the local network. Results suggest that spinoffs are indeed more likely to collaborate and take advantage of knowledge concentration.

Crossing Double-edged Swords: Categorical Distance, Status Distance, and Tie Formation

Whereas conventional wisdom suggests that categorical and status distances can reinforce each other’s negative effect on interpersonal tie formation, it largely overlooked the possibility that, because of their double-edged nature, categorical and status distances may weaken each other’s negative impact. We argue that, in contexts where innovation and identity distinction are both important, status distance can help overcome categorical barriers to interpersonal tie formation. In support for our theory, analysis of music collaboration in the commercial music industry (2000-2015) shows that categorical (genre) distance reduced the likelihood of collaboration between the main artist and the featured artist of an album, but this negative effect was weaker if the main artist had greater “status surplus” over the featured artist. In addition, the positive interaction of categorical and status distances was stronger if the main artist’s status was less volatile, which underlines the importance of the robustness of status-based identity.

Hospital Reorganization and Its Effects on Physicians’ Network Churn: The Role of Past Ties

Abstract Hospital reorganizations are difficult and often fail to produce their intended benefits. Prior research has investigated how and under which contingencies changes in organizational structure affect the modification of clinician behaviors, yet we know little about how organizational redesign interventions affect physicians' collaborative networks. This paper explores how hospital reorganizations affect physicians' network churn. We developed hypotheses on the relationship between structural characteristics of networks before reorganization and the formation of cross-unit network ties after reorganization. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 175 physicians in a large teaching hospital. The hospital had recently adopted a new organizational model aimed at enhancing a process-based approach to care delivery. Our findings revealed that the physicians' propensity to form cross-unit ties after the change was related to the structure of their collaborative networks before the change. In particular, the formation of cross-unit relations was negatively related to the size of advice networks before the reorganization. Furthermore, we found that the diversity of network ties along with the presence of structural holes in the physicians’ networks before the change moderated this relationship. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. In particular, our results may inform organizational redesign interventions within hospitals.

Looking Up the Ladder: Organizational Uncertainty and the Formation of Advice Ties (WITHDRAWN)

Looking Up the Ladder: Organizational Uncertainty and the Formation of Advice Ties (WITHDRAWN)

Marriage of Unequals? Investment Quality Heterogeneity and the Formation of Status-Asymmetric Ties

In this study, we investigate the emergence of status-asymmetric ties among venture capital firms. We propose that upward status asymmetries (in which a lower-status actor brings a higher-status al...

A Temporal View of Tie Formation: Exploring the Role of the Future through a Situated View of Events

A Temporal View of Tie Formation: Exploring the Role of the Future through a Situated View of Events