Daniel S. Halgin

Social Network Research: Confusions, Criticisms, and Controversies

Abstract Is social network analysis just measures and methods with no theory? We attempt to clarify some confusions, address some previous critiques and controversies surrounding the issues of structure, human agency, endogeneity, tie content, network change, and context, and add a few critiques of our own. We use these issues as an opportunity to discuss the fundamental characteristics of network theory and to provide our thoughts on opportunities for future research in social network analysis.

Visualizing Proximity Data

In this article, the authors explore the use of graph layout algorithms for visualizing proximity matrices such as those obtained in cultural domain analysis. Traditionally, multidimensional scaling has been used for this purpose. The authors compare the two approaches to identify conditions when each approach is effective. As might be expected, they find that multidimensional scaling shines when the data are of low dimensionality and are compatible with the defining characteristics of Euclidean distances, such as symmetry and triangle inequality constraints. However, when one is working with data that do not fit these criteria, graph layout algorithms do a better job of communicating the structure of the data. In addition, graph layout algorithms lend themselves to interactive use, which can yield a deeper and more accurate understanding of the data.

Power in Politically Charged Networks

We offer a theory and measure for determining powerful nodal positions based on potential inter-actor control in “politically charged” networks, which contain both allies and adversaries. Power is derived from actors that are dependent on the focal actor and sociometrically weak, either due to a lack of alternative allies or from being threatened by others. We create a new Political Independence Index (PII), compare it to other established measures, and illustrate its use in the setting of an international network of alliances and military conflicts from 1946-2000. Results show that politically independent nations as measured by PII have smaller increases in military personnel than others over time.

Network structure and the risk for HIV transmission among rural drug users.

Research suggests that structural properties of drug users’ social networks can have substantial effects on HIV risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the structural properties of Appalachian drug users’ risk networks could lend insight into the potential for HIV transmission in this population. Data from 503 drug users recruited through respondent-driven sampling were used to construct a sociometric risk network. Network ties represented relationships in which partners had engaged in unprotected sex and/or shared injection equipment. Compared to 1,000 randomly generated networks, the observed network was found to have a larger main component and exhibit more cohesiveness and centralization than would be expected at random. Thus, the risk network structure in this sample has many structural characteristics shown to be facilitative of HIV transmission. This underscores the importance of primary prevention in this population and prompts further investigation into the epidemiology of HIV in the region.

Dynamics of Social Capital: Effects of Performance Feedback on Network Change

We present a theory of social capital dynamics. In particular, we examine how individuals in organizations respond to events such as performance evaluations by changing whom they interact with and the extent to which they utilize their contacts. We argue that positive performance feedback from supervisors increases levels of self-efficacy and results in the creation of new social capital as well as the increased utilization of existing social capital (i.e., forming new ties with sources of information and aid, and increasing interactions with existing contacts). In addition, negative feedback decreases self-efficacy, resulting in reallocation of social capital utilization to concentrate on a small number of existing frequently-accessed contacts (i.e., decreasing interactions with some contacts while increasing interactions with others). Our arguments highlight the role of individual agency in social capital dynamics and clarify the role that individual performance evaluations can play in the evolving structure of social networks. To test our hypotheses, we use a longitudinal social network data-set collected over a six-year period in the IT department of a global engineering firm. Using fixed-effects panel regression models, we find support for our hypotheses, suggesting that performance feedback is a determinant factor in social capital dynamics.

Imaginary Worlds: Using Visual Network Scales to Capture Perceptions of Social Networks

Abstract Social networks are not just patterns of interaction and sentiment in the real world; they are also cognitive (re)constructions of social relations, some real, some imagined. Focusing on networks as mental entities, our essay describes a new method that relies on stylized network images to gather quantitative data on how people “see” specific aspects of their social worlds. We discuss the logic of our approach, present several examples of “visual network scales,” discuss some preliminary findings, and identify some of the problems and prospects in this nascent line of work on the phenomenology of social networks.

Structure and Agency in Networked, Distributed Work The Role of Work Engagement

In this article, we examine the social structure of workplace relationships (both actual and desired ties) in networked distributed work. We focus on the role of human agency in forming networks needed to succeed in this environment. In particular, we address how employee work engagement enables individuals to occupy the network positions that they need in order to succeed in networked and virtual settings. We analyze a distributed team within a large multinational firm involved in software development and delivery activities and find that highly engaged employees have personal networks that are anchored locally (i.e., strong ties with colleagues who are collocated and more transitive triples) and connect globally (i.e., strong ties with distant colleagues and more liaison brokerage ties across geographic locations). We also find a general tendency for all respondents to desire new ties that reach across global locations to improve performance at work. However, only the highly engaged employees achieve these ties highlighting the role of motivation and agency associated with engagement.

From Nutley to Paris: How the Culture of Communities Shapes Organizational Identity

We explore the role of geographic communities in the construction of an organizations identity as narrated in the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine, the flagship product of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia organization. We content analyzed 253 columns published between 1990 and 2004. We found that communities figured prominently in the emergence and institutionalization of the organizations identity, with over 800 mentions of specific places, from Stewarts childhood home of Nutley, New Jersey, to storied Paris, France. We examined how Stewarts use of places compared with descriptions of these same places in the Lonely Planet Travel. Our evidence suggests that the invocation of community enabled the organization to legitimate its product offerings as well as claim and partition complex and sometimes contradictory identity elements that included both highbrow culture and Americana “rural apple-pie goodness.”

Relationship-level analysis of drug users' anticipated changes in risk behavior following HIV vaccination

Formative research into the behavioral factors surrounding HIV vaccine uptake is becoming increasingly important as progress is made in HIV vaccine development. Given that the first vaccines on the market are likely to be partially effective, risk compensation (i.e., increased risk behavior following vaccination) may present a concern. This study characterized the relationships in which HIV vaccine-related risk compensation is most likely to occur using dyadic data collected from people who use drugs, a high-risk group markedly underrepresented in extant literature. Data were collected from 433 drug users enrolled in a longitudinal study in the USA. Respondents were asked to provide the first name and last initial of individuals with whom they had injected drugs and/or had sex during the past six months. For each partner, respondents reported their likelihood of increasing risk behavior if they and/or their partner received an HIV vaccine. Using generalized linear mixed models, relationship-level correlates to risk compensation were examined. In bivariate analysis, risk compensation was more likely to occur between partners who have known each other for a shorter time (odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90–0.99, p = 0.028) and between those who inject drugs and have sex together (OR = 2.52, CI: 1.05–6.04, p = 0.039). In relationships involving risk compensation, 37% involved partners who had known each other for a year or less compared to only 13% of relationships not involving risk compensation. Adjusting for other variables, duration (OR: 0.95, CI: 0.90–1.00, p = 0.033) was associated with risk compensation intent. These analyses suggest that risk compensation may be more likely to occur in less established relationships and between partners engaging in more than one type of risk behavior. These data provide further support for the need to expand measures of risk compensation in HIV vaccine preparedness studies to assess not only if people will change their behavior, but also with whom.

Voluntary turnover in a distributed work setting: an examination of the role of spatial propinquity and role similarity in project affiliation networks

Project affiliation networks (i.e., individuals connected through common project team memberships) create fruitful junctures to understand how individuals are connected to others in their social contexts, especially in distributed organizations. Advances in technology-mediated environments further help individuals develop connections with their colleagues who may or may not be collocated. This embeddedness creates inertial pressures on individuals and constrains them to conform to firm norms and thus stay with the firm. In this paper, we examine whether ties to those who quit the firm can trump the feeling of connection to the firm and thus motivate subsequent quit decisions. We argue that individuals with a greater number of defectors in their project affiliation networks are more likely than others to leave the firm and the influence on those focal individuals will be higher when they are collocated and occupy similar professional roles as the affiliated defectors. We analyze complete project affiliation data linking 728 geographically distributed employees at a multi-national high technology firm across five years to test these arguments. During this time 183 employees voluntarily left the firm. The findings support our arguments and suggest that project affiliation networks in such settings occasion social comparisons among employees and serve as conduits for the diffusion of their career mobility decisions. We discuss the implications of our work for managing voluntary turnover in knowledge intensive distributed organizations.