Are You Your Friends’ Friend? Poor Perception of Friendship Ties Limits the Ability to Promote Behavioral Change

Persuasion is at the core of norm creation, emergence of collective action, and solutions to ‘tragedy of the commons’ problems. In this paper, we show that the directionality of friendship ties affect the extent to which individuals can influence the behavior of each other. Moreover, we find that people are typically poor at perceiving the directionality of their friendship ties and that this can significantly limit their ability to engage in cooperative arrangements. This could lead to failures in establishing compatible norms, acting together, finding compromise solutions, and persuading others to act. We then suggest strategies to overcome this limitation by using two topological characteristics of the perceived friendship network. The findings of this paper have significant consequences for designing interventions that seek to harness social influence for collective action

Boosting advice and knowledge sharing among healthcare professionals

Purpose: This study investigates the dynamics of knowledge sharing in healthcare, exploring some of the factors that are more likely to influence the evolution of idea sharing and advice seeking in healthcare. Design/methodology/approach: We engaged 50 pediatricians representing many subspecialties at a mid-size US children's hospital using a social network survey to map and measure advice seeking and idea sharing networks. Through the application of Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models, we compared the structure of the two networks prior to a leadership program and eight weeks post conclusion. Findings: Our models indicate that healthcare professionals carefully and intentionally choose with whom they share ideas and from whom to seek advice. The process is fluid, non-hierarchical and open to changing partners. Significant transitivity effects indicate that the processes of knowledge sharing can be supported by mediation and brokerage. Originality: Hospital administrators can use this method to assess knowledge-sharing dynamics, design and evaluate professional development initiatives, and promote new organizational structures that break down communication silos. Our work contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in healthcare by adopting a social network approach, going beyond the dyadic level, and assessing the indirect influence of peers' relationships on individual networks

Fan Ties and Friendships: A Longitudinal Network Study of Division III Sports on Campus

The purpose of this longitudinal actor-based network study is to examine the evolution of sport fan ties and friendship ties on Division III campuses. Using two years of network data from a cohort of new students at a Division III institution, a SIENA model is developed to empirically test the co-evolution of fan ties and friendship ties. Grounded in student development, sport consumer behavior, and network theories, the overarching goal of this study is to explore the causal effect of fan ties on friendship ties among new students. To ascertain the value of Division III sports on campus, the authors explore the role of sports on campus in promoting friendships for new students based on the strong theoretical tradition from student development highlighting the salience of peer relationship in student success and retention. Accordingly, theoretical implications related to sport fan networks are considered within practical discussion of Division III sports and retention

Altruism and Social Integration

Also published as Working Paper DFAEII 2009-05 and as an article in: Games and Economic Behavior, 2010, vol. 69, issue 2, pages 249-257.altruism, centrality, social network experiments

Resources exchange patterns with diverse institutional partners within R&D collaborative relationships: access to reputation and funding

This study addresses the nature of the networks which researchers use to access resources focusing on the nature of network‐mediated resource exchanges and the relationship to those network connection strengths. Innovation literature tends to assume that for research collaboration weak ties – allowing loose coupling – are optimal, and it is precisely that notion that we seek to test here. This paper addresses the manner in which relational and institutional traits interact in R&D relationships, and specifically the institutional context and functional characteristics of a tie between two researchers. We use Granovetter’s network theory to conceptualise scientific network functioning in R&D collaborative relationships, classifying ties into strong and weak ties. We then analyse how actors’ institutional contexts (and their similarity or difference) affect how researchers conduct resources exchanges. We argue ‘ tie characteristics’ can predict different patterns of exchange behaviours depending on partners’ institutional affiliations. Our findings stress that institutional affiliation determines which tie characteristics are in the best interest for the access to resources to take place

Relationally Constructing Sexual Identity: The Effect of Friendship Networks on Same-Sex Sexuality Development

Drawing upon social network and sexual identity literature, this study investigates the extent to which social integration can influence the development of non-normative sexuality. Existing literature demonstrates the significance of social support in predicting health outcomes. This study seeks to broaden existing understandings of the importance of friendships to encompass their influence on identity development among adolescents questioning their sexual identity. Specifically, this study uses logistic regression to analyze data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Logistic analyses examine the interactive effects of adolescent same sex attraction and each of three distinct friendship network variables on whether or not an individual adopted a non-normative sexual identity in adulthood. Next, the same analyses were performed with each set of results disaggregated by gender. Finally, friendship variable interactions were reexamined using multinomial logistic regression and a categorical construction of the dependent variable. Results indicate that respondents who report same-sex attraction are increasingly likely to adopt a non-normative identity as the number of people who nominate the respondent as a friend increases. This finding was driven by male respondents. The number of friend nominations was an insignificant predictor among female respondents. Female respondents were, instead, more highly influenced by the extent to which their closest friendships were reciprocated. This studys findings point to the importance of further investigating the relationship between social network characteristics and processes of identity formation among adolescents

Topics in social network analysis and network science

This chapter introduces statistical methods used in the analysis of social networks and in the rapidly evolving parallel-field of network science. Although several instances of social network analysis in health services research have appeared recently, the majority involve only the most basic methods and thus scratch the surface of what might be accomplished. Cutting-edge methods using relevant examples and illustrations in health services research are provided

Affective sharing, friendship, and outcomes among boys with autism spectrum disorders

Research among typically developing boys aged 8-12 has found affective sharing to be a key distinguishing characteristic of friendship. However, to date no research exists that further examines and builds upon these findings among boys with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This study examined whether affective sharing (defined as positive social engagement and synchrony, which consisted of time spent in synchronous interaction and responsiveness) predicted friendship reciprocity and quality over and above opportunities to participate in activities with other children. Additionally, this study examined whether affective sharing, friendship reciprocity, and overall friendship quality are predictive of lower rates of internalizing symptoms and higher rates of adaptive behavior among boys with ASD. Findings suggest a comparable pattern of friendship behavior among children with ASD and typically developing (TD) boys during friend interactions, albeit with lower mean rates of affective sharing among children with ASD. However, affective sharing did not mediate the relation between participation in surface level activities with peers and friendship quality, internalizing symptoms, or adaptive behavior. Additionally, a distinct pattern of characteristics of children who were not able to identify a friend to participate in the second visit emerged among participants with ASD, suggesting differences may lie between children with ASD and TD peers without reciprocated friendships

Altruism and Social Integration

Also published as Working Paper DFAEII 2009-05 and as an article in: Games and Economic Behavior, 2010, vol. 69, issue 2, pages 249-257.We report on a two-stage experiment in which i) we first elicit the social network within a section of undergraduate students and ii) we then measure their altruistic attitudes by means of a standard Dictator game. We observe that more socially integrated subjects are also more altruistic, as betweenness centrality and reciprocal degree are positively correlated with the level of giving, even after controlling for framing and social distance, which have been shown to significantly affect giving in previous studies. Our findings suggest that social distance and social integration are complementary determinants of altruistic behavior.Financial support from MEC (SEJ2006-06309/ECON; SEJ2007-62081/ECON; SEJ 2007-62656/ECON and ECO2009-09120), Generalitat Valenciana (GV06/275), Gobierno Vasco (IT-223-07) and Junta de Andalucía (P07-SEJ-02547) is gratefully acknowledged