Search

В статье проведен теоретический и эмпирический анализ феномена слабых социальных связей в контексте развития гигономики, основой которой становится изменение форм взаимодействия между работниками и работодателями, а также форм и видов профессиональной и межпрофессиональной коммуникации. Обращено внимание на трансформации внутрии межорганизационного сотрудничества, связанные с распространением горизонтальных моделей управления, в т.ч. проектных кросс-функциональных команд, самоорганизующихся систем и сетевых форм партнерства. Слабые социальные связи рассмотрены как важнейший элемент социального капитала работников, повышающий конкурентоспособность предприятия через развитие сетей сотрудничества во внутренней и внешней среде. На основе эмпирического исследования (N200, 2022 г.) зафиксировано значение социальных связей в модели жизненного успеха студенческой молодежи., The article provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the phenomenon of weak social ties in the context of gigonomics development, the basis of which is the change in the forms of interaction between employees and employers, as well as the forms and types of professional and interprofessional communication. Attention is drawn to the transformation of intraand interorganizational cooperation associated with the spread of horizontal management models, incl. project cross-functional teams, self-organizing systems and network forms of partnership. Weak social ties are considered as the most important element of the social capital of employees, which increases the competitiveness of an enterprise through the development of cooperation networks in the internal and external environment. On the basis of an empirical study (N200, 2022), the importance of social ties in the life success model of student youth was recorded.

The article considers the actual problem of organizing the communication space of distance learning for first-year students of the university. The development of information technologies, the need to introduce innovative approaches, the emergence of global extreme social situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019–2021years, – intensified the use of distance approach in educational activities. The purpose of this article is to study the experience of organizing the communicative space of distance learning, because communicative space is one of the key factors for effective learning. As a result of the empirical research, the issues of the formation of the communicative process, social connections and attitudes to educational activities among first-year students have been analysed. The paper concludes, that the effectiveness of the organization of the communicative space of distance learning depends largely on the communicative competencies of the teacher. The study reveals the most important competencies of teachers for organizing the communication space of online learning – the focus on innovation, the development of empathic abilities of teachers, business and Internet-communication skills.

As an indispensable part of contemporary medical services, Internet-based medical platforms can provide patients with a full range of multi-disciplinary and multi-modal treatment services. Along with the emergence of many healthcare influencers and the increasing connection between online and offline consultations, the operation of individual physicians and their teams on Internet-based medical platforms has started to attract a lot of attention. The purpose of this paper is to, based on an Internet platform, study how the information on physicians’ homepages influences patients’ consultation behavior, so as to provide suggestions for the construction of physicians’ personal websites. We distinguish variables into strong- and weak-ties types, dependent on whether deep social interactions between physicians and patients have happened. If there exist further social interactions, we define the variable as the “strong ties” type, otherwise, “weak ties”. The patients’ consultation behavior will be expressed as the volume of online consultation, i.e., the number of patients. We obtained the strong and weak ties information of each physician based on EWM (entropy weight method), so as to establish a regression model with explained variable, i.e., the number of patients, and three explanatory variables, i.e., the strong and weak ties information, and their interaction term. The estimation results verified our hypotheses and proved to be robust. It showed that both strong and weak ties information can positively influence patients’ consultation behavior, and the influence of weak ties information is greater. Regarding the positive influence of strong and weak ties, we found a trade off effect between them. Based on the results, we finalize with some suggestions on how to improve a physician’s online medical consultation volume.

This chapter presents an overview of how migrant networks have been researched and theorised. In so doing, we highlight some persistent gaps in knowledge about how migrants, and their descendants, forge networks and generate particular kinds of resources, especially in accessing the labour market and developing careers, and we explain how the chapters of this book tackle these issues. By looking not only at migrants but also at the second generation, we reflect on opportunities, but also enduring inequalities, and the ways in which networks may be mobilised to support employment strategies across different sectors and in different European countries.The chapter discusses the importance of disentangling social capital and social networks. Relatedly, we discuss the need to look beyond the ethnic lens and simple binaries of ‘bonding’ versus ‘bridging’ capital, to explore how ties to different kinds of actors, in varied social positions, may facilitate or indeed hinder career development. Referring to new empirical data and theoretically informed analysis, in the various chapters of this book, we build upon but also complicate understanding of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ ties, not as fixed ties, but rather as a continuum of dynamic relationships that may ebb and flow over time.In the concluding section, we highlight the contribution of this book and also consider the need for further cross-fertilisation of conceptual and empirical innovations beyond migration studies to avoid a silo-effect in social network research.

Top management in organizations have begun to realize that innovative employees add to the competitive edge of a company which serves to maintain their position in intense market competition. For this purpose, management needs to seek new ways to combine the social environment and employees in the workplace in an inextricable manner that supports innovation. The purpose of this paper was to examine the role of thriving at work and its effects on an individual&rsquo, s innovative behavior. Based on the socially embedded model of thriving, we aimed to assess the relevant related work on structured potential effects with relational ties (i.e., strong versus weak). Particularly, these ties affect the heedful relating differently. This study examined the antecedents of thriving at work and the innovative behavior among employees at a global investment company. Using partial least squares modeling on a sample of 412 observations (strong and weak ties), strong support was found for the theory-driven hypothesized relationships. The results contribute to a better understanding of the relational roles concerning recently emerging constructs of &ldquo, thriving at work&rdquo, and &ldquo, positive organizational scholarship.&rdquo, The implications and limitations of this study are further discussed.

There has been an increasing focus on managerial external networking behaviourwithin public administration. While most previous quantitative research has analysedsuch behaviour one-dimensionally, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptualizationbased on the concepts of weak and strong ties. Utilizing measures resemblingprevious research, we explore the utility of the approach in an exploratory study ofDanish local government. Our findings suggest that the two dimensions of externalnetworking behaviour are distinct. We discuss our approach compared to previousapproaches and argue that a conceptualization based on the distinction between strong and weak ties provides a promising framework for future research.

The goals of this study were, first, to analyze the differences between women's and men's social networks with respect to social participation. Second, we aimed to analyze the extent to which social networks and different types of social ties have an influence on women's and men's intention to engage in different types of social participation. Through an on-line survey 263 undergraduate students currently not involved in any kind of social participation estimated probability of their future involvement in several types of social engagement. They also reported an approximate number of their relatives, friends, and acquaintances developing each type of participation. This latter information was used to calculate the degree of the centrality of the subjects in their social networks considering strong ties and weak ties. Analyses confirmed that women's and men's social networks differed. Also, only weak ties were significant predictor of the intention to participate in both cases, but there were differences by type of social participation and by gender. The influence of social ties was only significant if the type of social participation fitted gender role stereotype. We discuss our results in light of the focus norm approach and normative social influence. El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el perfil de las redes personales de mujeres y varones en cuanto a la participación social de sus contactos, y el diferente papel que pueden tener sus contactos débiles y fuertes a la hora de explicar la intención de desarrollar diversas formas de participación social. A través de una encuesta on-line 263 estudiantes universitarios actualmente no involucrados en ninguna forma de participación social estimaron la probabilidad de su futura implicación en ciertos tipos de participación social y aportaron el número aproximado de familiares, amigos y conocidos que desarrollaban cada tipo. Esta última información fue utilizada para calcular el grado de centralidad de los sujetos en sus redes sociales considerando los vínculos fuertes y débiles. Los análisis llevados a cabo confirman que mujeres y varones presentan diferencias en sus redes sociales. Sólo los vínculos débiles son predictores significativos de la intención de desarrollar la participación, pero hay diferencias por tipo de participación social y por género. La influencia de los vínculos sociales es significativa si el tipo de participación social se ajusta al estereotipo de rol de género. Se discuten los resultados a la luz de la aproximación focus norm y la influencia social normativa.

This chapter analyzes how entrepreneurs of a same district, thus dealing with similar sets of resources and accesses to market, respond to innovation pressure. Spread over five-year period from 2010 to 2014, this is a longitudinal qualitative multiple case studies conducted in Italy’s Prato textile district, near Florence. The authors adopted a content analysis to reconstruct the perceptions about innovation trajectories adopted by a sample of entrepreneurs. Our findings show that despite equal pre-conditions, we observe firms evolving differently due to their approach to pursing opportunities, based on network configurations and cognitive interpretations of internal support for implementation. This chapter develops an interpretation of the findings adopting a framework based on the effect of strong and weak ties and a cognitive approach based on an effectual or causal entrepreneurial decision-making.

In recent years, the identification and application of strong and weak ties in social networks has drawn increasing attention. The traditional definitions of strong ties (with two endpoints in the same community) and weak ties (with two endpoints in different communities) are being challenged by overlapping community structures. Because of their unique nature, the relationships between overlapping nodes and non-overlapping nodes are difficult to classify as strong or weak. In view of this, it is here proposed that the coefficient indicator for overlapping communities was used to redefine node relationships and enable the quantification of strong and weak ties. Next, changes in the quantities of strong and weak ties were analyzed by varying the threshold values of the overlap coefficient. Finally, the effect of weak ties in information dissemination was assessed in overlapping and non-overlapping situations, respectively. Results demonstrated that the overlap coefficient proposed in this paper could better characterize the strong and weak attributes of edges under overlapping community structures.

The strength of social ties has an impact on how information is transferred and processed in a social network. Many studies have used social media data to evaluate tie strength. However, many of these studies were done at a time when social media data could be accessed legally without using the social media platform API. In the past few years, there have been significant changes in the data access policies of these platforms, which has led to a considerable reduction in the possibilities of using social media data for tie strength evaluation. The paper aims to study the impact of the data access policy changes of major social media platforms on the existing social media based tie strength models. The findings of this study show that the existing social media based tie strength models can no longer be utilized in their current form. Our study suggests that there is either a need to modify the existing social media based tie strength models or to develop new social media based tie strength models that reflect the recent changes in the data access policies.

This article presents the results of a sociological research and suggests the consideration of Internet marketing tools from the perspective of a network approach. The practice of student interaction in the framework of weak ties with other students in the interests of consumer behavior in the online market has been revealed. The dissemination of existing experience occurs through strong ties. However, in finding a new product / store, weak links are helpful. В данной статье представлены результаты социологического исследования и предложено рассмотрение инструментов интернет-маркетинга с позиции сетевого подхода. Выявлены практики взаимодействия студентов в рамках слабых связей с другими студентами в интересах потребительского поведения в интернет-маркете. Распространение уже имеющегося опыта происходит через сильные связи. Однако в поиске нового товара/магазина полезными оказываются слабые связи.

Open innovation has been a paradigm to explore new opportunities and develop new products, enabling firms to use appropriation strategies like patent and secrecy to capture value. Building on strong ties and weak ties, this paper analyzes how formal and informal open innovation activities influence the use of patent and secrecy. We argue that strong ties and weak ties are the way they govern relationships in formal partnering and informal working. Our analysis is based on the bivariate and univariate probit model. Employing a sample of 764 manufacturing firms in an innovation survey, the results suggest that firms appropriate value from formal open innovation through patent, whereas appropriate value from informal open innovation through secrecy. We further find that formal open innovation help realize the new ideas generated from informal open innovation, whose interaction results in the highest level of innovation outcome and therefore maintain it secrecy to gain lead-time advantage and market share. The findings contribute to the understanding of the tension between openness and appropriation from the perspective of ties, provide some evidence, as well as have implications for firms who are active in open innovation.

It is widely accepted in word-of-mouth (WOM) research that weak ties have a greater macro-level impact than strong ties on the spread of WOM and that marketers should thus intentionally stimulate WOM between weak ties to optimize a given WOM campaign. Here, we challenge this idea based on the fact that, in practice, marketers often incorporate a WOM campaign into other forms of marketing activities, typically advertising. Using an agent-based modeling approach, we demonstrate that while advertising serves as one source of information flow, the WOM that is most effective at driving product growth is created by strong rather than weak ties. The rationale behind this is simple: advertising competes against weak ties in disseminating information globally, and it is this global reach that has been widely considered the vital strength of weak ties over strong ties. Keywords: Word-of-mouth (WOM), Strong ties, Weak ties, Advertising, Agent-based modeling (ABM), JEL classification: M310

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelemme yksilön sosiaalisista verkostoista muodostuvan sosiaalisen pääoman yhteyttä yksilötason tulokehitykseen. Analyysimme perustuvat vuoden 1986 elinolotutkimukseen osallistuneisiin 20–44 vuotiaisiin työllisiin ja rekisteritietoihin heidän palkkatuloistaan vuosilta 1987–1997. Tutkimuksessa erottelemme toisistaan sitovan ja silloittavan sosiaalisen pääoman muodot. Sitovan sosiaalisen pääoman mittarimme perustuu yksilön mahdollisuuteen saada apua verkostoistaan erilaisissa arkielämän tilanteissa. Silloittavaa sosiaalista pääomaa mittasimme yksilöiden yhdistysjäsenyyksien monipuolisuuden kautta. Analyysit suoritettiin paloittain jatkuvalla lineaarisella kasvukäyrämallilla, jossa seuranta-aika oli jaettu kolmeen jaksoon: aika ennen lamaa (1987–1991), lama (1992–1994) ja aika laman jälkeen (1995–1997). Tulokset osoittavat, että erityisesti yksilön silloittava sosiaalinen pääoma monipuolisina yhdistysjäsenyyksinä oli yhteydessä palkkatulojen positiiviseen kehitykseen koko seurantajaksolla. Erityisen selvästi sosiaalinen pääoma vahvisti yksilöiden palkkatulojen kehitystä laman jälkeisellä nousukaudella, jolloin sekä silloittava että sitova sosiaalinen pääoma edistivät yksilöiden tulonmuodostusta. Suuri osa tästä kehityksestä liittyy yksilön silloittavan sosiaalisen pääoman mahdollistamaan etenemiseen muita paremmin palkattuihin tehtäviin. Tulokset tukevat käsitystä, että sosiaalinen pääoma on muunnettavissa taloudelliseksi pääomaksi.

The study tests whether strong rather than weak ties account for small business growth in Turkey. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire filled out by the owners of small firms operating in four cities. Growth is comprised of two main areas, production expansion and knowledge acquisition. Results show that strong ties are positively related to both types of growth. In contrast, loose ties have no effect on small business growth in either area. This finding is attributed to the influence of the collectivistic nature of the mainstream Turkish culture, where owners of small businesses are likely to rely on in-groups rather than out-groups for advice and for financial support. Implications of relative absence of weak ties for small business growth and innovation in emerging economies are discussed. The findings suggest that culture should be included as a contingency variable in future studies of network strength and growth relationship. The paper also discusses the possible moderating role of affective and cognition-based trust in the relation of strong and weak ties to small business growth.

We develop a model where unemployed workers in the city can find a job either directly or through weak or strong ties. We show that, in denser areas, individuals choose to interact with more people and meet more random encounters (weak ties) than in sparsely populated areas. We also demonstrate that, for a low urbanization level, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium where workers do not interact with weak ties, while, for a high level of urbanization, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium with full social interactions. We show that these equilibria are usually not socially efficient when the urban population has an intermediate size because there are too few social interactions compared to the social optimum. Finally, even when social interactions are optimal, we show that there is over-urbanization in equilibrium.

This study investigated the value of a member’s online social capital, in the social networking platform LinkedIn, in the following areas: member’s subject matter proficiency, member’s firm’s problem solving ability, and member’s firm’s innovation process. The analytical framework used the concepts of social networks and online social networks (OSNs); social network ties; social capital and online social capital; knowledge and novel knowledge; communities of practice (CoPs); problem solving; and innovation. Quantitative methods were used, involving analysis of data collected from a sample of LinkedIn members residing in South Africa. It was apparent from the analysis that knowledge acquired on LinkedIn, relating to a member’s subject matter proficiency, benefited the member's firm. It was also evident that this knowledge contributed to the firm’s problem solving process. The data did not, however, confirm or refute the proposition that knowledge acquired by members on LinkedIn contributed to their firms’ innovation. An overall observation from the data was that members did not perceive substantial value from the knowledge available on LinkedIn. The authors therefore recommend that greater initiative be taken by members and firms to adopt open networking approaches, using online social networks such as LinkedIn, starting with attitudinal and policy considerations on the part of firms.

The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals listed high infant mortality rates as a major problem in developing countries, especially in rural areas. Given the powerful information dissemination capabilities, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been suggested as interventions to build infant care awareness and to modify healthcare behaviors. We examine how the use of one ICT intervention-specifically, eHealth kiosks disseminating authenticated and accessible medical information-can alleviate the problem of high infant mortality in rural India. We investigate how mothers' social networks affect their use of eHealth kiosks, seeking professional medical care for their infants and, ultimately, infant mortality. Drawing on the social epidemiology and social networks literatures, we focus on advice and hindrance from both strong and weak ties as the conduit of social influence on mothers' health-related behaviors for the care of their infants. Over a period of 7 years, we studied 4,620 infants across 10 villages where the eHealth kiosks were implemented along with support resources for proxy use. The results revealed that (1) eHealth kiosk use promotes seeking professional medical care and reduces infant mortality, (2) mothers are especially vulnerable to hindrance from both strong and weak ties as they choose to maintain the status quo of traditional infant healthcare practices (e.g., reliance on untrained personnel, superstitions, fatalism) in villages, and (3) advice from both strong and weak ties offers the potential to break down misplaced beliefs about infant healthcare practices and to develop literacy on seeking professional medical care. In contrast, in a comparative group of 10 neighboring villages, the reduction in infant mortality was not as pronounced and the effect of professional medical care in reducing infant mortality was lower. Our findings suggest that an ICT intervention can effectively address one of society's most important problems (i.e., infant mortality) even in parts of the world with limited resources and deep suspicion of technology and change. Overall, we believe such an ICT intervention will complement other investments being made, including the facilitation of use (proxy use) and provision of professional medical facilities to reduce infant mortality. Accepted version

Analizuojant kolektyvinio protesto dinamiką Lietuvoje Atgimimo laikotarpiu, straipsnyje nagrinėjama, kokia socialinė terpė yra palankesnė kolektyvinio veiksmo mobilizacijai, – ar socialiniam judėjimui susikurti reikalingi silpnieji, ar stiprieji socialiniai ryšiai. Pirmoje dalyje apibrėžiamos stipriųjų ir silpnųjų ryšių sąvokos bei aptariama socialinių tinklų reikšmė kolektyvinio veiksmo mobilizacijai. Antroje dalyje analizuojama sovietmečio visuomenės socialinė mikro struktūra, skirtingos socialinės terpės – oficialioji, alternatyvioji legalioji ir pogrindžio visuomenė – ir jų vaidmuo Atgimimo laikotarpiu. Pabaigoje parodoma, kurioje iš terpių gimė Sąjūdis, kokie veikė socialiniai protesto mechanizmai ir koks vaidmuo teko silpniesiems bei stipriesiems ryšiams skirtinguose kolektyvinio veiksmo mobilizacijos etapuose. In analysing the dynamics and mechanisms of mass protest from 1987 to 1988 in Lithuania, this article explores what kind of social ties – strong or weak – are conducive to the mobilisation of collective action in a (post-)totalitarian society. The empirical analysis is based on data collected as part of the 2009-2011 research project "The phenomenon of Sąjūdis: network analysis of a civic movement". First, the article defines the distinction between strong and weak ties, and highlights the importance of social networks for the mobilisation of collective action. Second, it analyses the micro-structure of Lithuanian society in the Soviet period. Based on the type of network ties, three distinct social arenas are distinguished: underground society, alternative legal society and official society. Finally, the article analyses which of these arenas could be seen as the seedbed of the Sąjūdis movement. Also demonstrated is the distinct role of different kinds of social ties at different stages in the development of the movement.

This paper studies entrepreneurial networks in a transition economy setting. On the basis of in depth interviews with entrepreneurs in Croatia, we investigate why specific networks emerge and their formation mechanisms. Our analysis reveals that entrepreneurs create a unique set of interpersonal weak business ties named veza. However, they are not keen to develop strong business ties through any of the identified networking forms, even though conditions to form such ties do exist. We propose that besides entrepreneurial motivation to form business networks, the particular aspects of the transitional socio-economic environment have a significant effect on the formation of entrepreneurial networks. Theoretically, this paper demonstrates that formation of strong entrepreneurial business ties may not be automatic, even if the right conditions for tie formation are in place. More broadly, this study contributes to a more complete picture of the relationship between socio-economic context and entrepreneurial processes.

本稿では、年賀状を資料とした事例調査を行うことにより、個人のパーソナルネットワークと社会構造の関連を事例調査から明らかにすることを目指している。特に、年賀状を資料とすることにより、これまでの大量調査からでは捉えることの難しかった、弱い紐帯をも含めた幅広い範囲を網羅したパーソナルネットワークの様相の把握を行う。これを基礎資料とし、パーソナルネットワークに関する質的な情報を対象者から聞き取ることで、パーソナルネットワーク内の内部構造、パーソナルネットワークとライフコースの関係、機関とパーソナルネットワークの関わりなどを明らかにする。また、特徴的な二つの事例を紹介し、パーソナルネットワークが、都市の主要な構成要素である機関と、個人の属性的要因である社会構造上の地位とライフコース上の位置の関数で決定されて行く過程を明らかにする。, This paper describes the relationship between the urban structure and individuals' personal networks based on a case study in Tokyo. The study utilized New Year's cards received by the respondents, which enabled us to elicit information about various types of personal contacts including those with strong ties as well as with weak ties. We describe the inner structure of individuals' personal networks, and elucidate the process through which personal networks are formed as a function of individuals' association with urban institutions, positions in the social structure, and their respective stage in their life-course.

We develop a model where the unemployed workers in the city can find a job either directly or through weak or strong ties. We show that, in denser areas, individuals choose to interact with more people and meet more random encounters (weak ties) than in sparsely populated areas. We also demonstrate that, for a low urbanization level, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium where workers do not interact with weak ties, while, for a high level of urbanization, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium with full social interactions. We show that these equilibria are usually not socially efficient when the urban population has an intermediate size because there are too few social interactions compared to the social optimum. Finally, even when social interactions are optimal, we show that there is over-urbanization in equilibrium.

We develop a model where the unemployed workers in the city can find a job either directly or through weak or strong ties. We show that, in denser areas, individuals choose to interact with more people and meet more random encounters (weak ties) than in sparsely populated areas. We also demonstrate that, for a low urbanization level, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium where workers do not interact with weak ties, while, for a high level of urbanization, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium with full social interactions. We show that these equilibria are usually not socially efficient when the urban population has an intermediate size because there are too few social interactions compared to the social optimum. Finally, even when social interactions are optimal, we show that there is over-urbanization in equilibrium.

This paper adopts a network perspective to explore the ways digitally-mediated relationships prompt social and/or political participation in China. In the "chicken game scenario", my analysis suggests that collective actions are facilitated by both weak and strong ties, which generate a fairly unified collective identity that is conductive to high-risk mobilization. In the "public crisis scenario", it is generally weak ties that facilitate relatively lower-risk mobilization. In the "compromise scenario", if collective actions do occur, they are generally low-risk and non-political. This appears to be largely due to the dominance of weak ties in the compromise scenario. The "banal scenario" is a black box that has yet to be sufficiently investigated in the future.

It is well known that M. Granovetter wrote about the declining role of strong social ties and the rising role of weak ties. Yet the situation in Russia is different. The institutional order and a high level of transactions costs compels young Russians to use strong social ties to cut transaction costs while they move from one city to an other. The data on migrations between cities shows us that the force of strong ties is sometimes greater than the force of a distance or of the agglomeration effect: some very distant and small cities are tied closely by migrations flows. We tend to explain the high level of migration in such cases through the existence of strong social ties not only between some individuals but also between some city communities as a whole. So we have to speak about a social proximity in addition to the well-known organizational proximity and geographical proximity. The data of our research is the personal career information contained in the personal pages of the most popular Russian on-line social network www.vk.com: the data on birthplaces, school-leaving and university-leaving places and a present-day residence places. The data was extracted by specially designed software. We use such a method because of the lack of migration data on a city level in official Russian statistics. We have collected 3000 to 14000 personal data files per city for people aging 20 to 29 years old (which is approximately 10?15% of the whole city population) for the following cities: arctic cities Noyabrsk, Norilsk, Magadan, Muravlenko, Gubkinsky; cities within an agglomeration: Gorodets, Konakovo, Nevjansk; peripheral small cities: Bezhetsk, Gagarin, Verhoturye; cities with nuclear industry or scientific centers: Obninsk, Sarov, Desnogorsk, Sosnovy Bor, Snezhinsk, Dubna, Dimitrovgrad; industrial company-towns Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk. The largest migrations flows moved to the Russian capital and to the region centers. Yet, excluding such flows, we can see the concentration of remaining migrants in a portion of small cities. Here three types of migrations exist, which were clarified by qualitative analysis: -- migrations from the Arctic region to those places from which the parents of today's migrants came some decades ago (?over-generation coming back? migration); -- migration to the cities where a portion of former ?city-mates? have just settled; -- migration between cities of a similar specialization.

Bakgrund: 2010 presenterade SCB en undersökning om hur 403 000 jobb tillsattes (GP 2010). 79 000 av dessa tjänster tillsattes via personliga kontakter och ytterligare 100 000 där arbetsgivaren själv kontaktade den arbetssökande. Denna trend i användandet av det sociala kontaktnätet får stöd av Lena Hensvik, doktorand i nationalekonomi, i tidskriften Framtider (2012). Hon skriver att den sociala omgivningen såsom grannar, skolkamrater, tidigare kollegor och föräldrar har stor betydelse för hur vi får anställning eller inte. Hon menar att kontaktnätet är en viktig självinvestering då vårdandet av ens nätverk uppenbarligen kan underlätta jobbsökandet. Hensvik (2012) fortsätter skriva att det i dagens samhälle inte bara handlar om vem du är utan även vem du känner. Syfte: Tidigare forskning berättar att personliga kontakter är en av de faktorer som ökar anställningsbarheten. Vi vill därför ta vid där tidigare forskning slutar och göra en mer inriktad studie där vi fokuserar på personliga kontakter och kartlägger dess effekt i praktiken. Vi ämnar därför förklara personliga kontakters betydelse i samband med nyanställning av civilekonomer med examen från 2007-2012. Metod: Vi har valt att genomföra vår studie med en kvantitativ undersökningsdesign och ett deduktivt synsätt på relationen teori och forskning. Empiriska data har insamlats genom enkätundersökning. Slutsats: Vår slutsats är att personliga kontakter är användbara för civilekonomer i anställningsprocessen, att kontakterna till 90,4% leder dem till minst intervju och att kontakterna inte nödvändigtvis är de som är definierade som svaga, se Granovetters (1973, 1975) teorier om The Strength of Weak Ties. Background: In 2010 SCB presented a survey of how 403 000 jobs were added (GP 2010). 79 000 of these were added through social contacts and another 100 000 by the employer himself who contacted the unemployed. This trend of using social contacts in the job-seeking process gets support by Hensvik, doctor in economics. In the magazine Framtider (2012) she writes that the social environment such as neighbours, class mates, former colleagues and parents have a big impact if we get an employment or not. Hensvik (2012) says that the caring of ones contacts is an important self-investment that improves your probabilities of getting an employment. She continues writing that in today’s society it’s not only important who you are but also who you know. Purpose: Previous research tells that social contacts are one of the factors that will improve your probabilities of getting employed. We will continue where previous research tends to end and aim for a more focused study where we measure the effects of using contacts in reality. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the contacts’ importance when employing former students with a Degree of Master of Science in Business and Economics. Method: We have conducted a questionnaire survey that was sent out to eight Swedish universities resulting in 100 responses. Conclusion: We have come to the conclusion that social contacts contribute in the recruitment process of former business students, that the use of contacts in 90,4% will get you far in the job-seeking process and that the helpful contacts are not necessarily the ones defined as weak ties, of which Granovetter (1973, 1975) would have argued.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze a group of participants (social workers, contact families and the young adults who had been given a contact family as children) and monitor their experience of the intervention contact family and its goals, contents and design. We also wanted to look into what goals and guidelines are available regarding the interventions design and contents. We also looked into parts of the intervention which the participants found most useful for them individually. The method we used in our study was qualitative interviews. We compared and analyzed our results to research made on the subject and the theoretical frame. We chose to use an eclectic theoretical frame. We combined concepts from general systems theory perspective, such as: input, flow, output, and overview (our translation) as understood by Payne (2010) and Öquist (2008) with Grannovetters (1973) theory of strong and weak ties. We will also apply Hasenfelds (1983) technologies: people-sustaining-, people-processing- and people changing technologies. We will suggest a use of valuation models get a clearer view of the effects from the intervention contact family. Our results show that the main reason the interventions are approved is relief for the parents and the change of environment and stimulation for the children. The participants' perception is that the relief is beneficial to the family as a whole. Another important reason for the intervention is to provide the child with more secure adult influence and strengthen the child’s social network. Our result showed that all of our participants were positive towards the intervention. We found that the intervention’s lack of monitoring of the participant’s experiences could be one of the reasons it is hard to see any proven effects, combined with the unclear communication of goals. Our study showed that there are no national or local guidelines that regulate the contents of the intervention, most of our participants feel no need for more strict guidelines.

The presence of both narcissism and social capital in the digital social networking site Facebook is altering the dynamic of relationship development. Therefore, the central research question directing this study is as follows: What role do narcissistic personality traits play in bridging social capital on Facebook? From this, two sub-questions are raised: 1) What are the motives for users to express narcissistic traits through Facebook? 2) How is narcissistic-motivated activity influencing social capital development through Facebook? Guiding this thesis are concepts of social tie relationships (as they apply to narcissism), and digital social networks. An exploratory study of in-depth interviews was utilized to conduct such research. A key objective in this thesis is understanding motive and purpose for generating social capital in an online environment. The findings from this study suggest Facebook is a facilitator for the expression of narcissistic traits. As a result, this is influencing the disconnected and questionable value of digital social capital.

The ability to maintain and grow the inventory of Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) operators depends on the ability of NSW to recruit high probability candidates effectively and increase the retention rates within the existing ranks of SEAL operators. Using data from the BUDs/Pride Database, this thesis draws on logistic multivariate regression models to test the theory that candidates with a prior strong social tie to NSW are more likely to complete the BUDs training successfully than those with no such tie. Geospatial mapping supplements this analysis by providing relatively easy to interpret visualizations of the recruit network. The combination of the logistic models and the geospatial interpretations of the data provide a clearer picture of the entire recruit network. Looking at the results of the logistic regression model, and the ordered logistic regression model, it can be seen that students with a strong tie, either to NSW or another special operations force within the U.S. military, are more likely than students without such a tie to make it through the training pipeline. http://archive.org/details/targetedrecruitm109457339 Lieutenant Junior Grade, United States Navy

This paper is an exploration of the survival strategies of the Bangladeshi Diaspora in Malaysia. To cope with the realities, Bangladeshi migrants develop different forms of survival strategies. As a result intra and inter-ethnic strong and weak ties are formed in the receiving country. Empirical analysis depicts that respondents with weak ties have higher income mobility than those with strong ties. It also demonstrates that the Bangladeshi migrants of the study areas do not restrict themselves only to their close social networks; rather they develop distant networks for higher social mobility. Or in other words, though the ideal socio-cultural model emphasizes community cohesion (something that can be conceptualized as an example of a tightly structured social system), the actual behavior of the Bangladeshi migrants indicates a loosely or disintegrated social system. Migrant's embeddedness in the ongoing social relations and power structures regulates the nature and strength of these ties.

En Historia, la correspondencia epistolar privada, en cuanto medio de comunicación entre personas, es la única fuente documental que revela las interacciones directas, no mediatizadas institucionalmente, entre actores sociales. El artículo explora las posibilidades de esta fuente tanto para el análisis cualitativo e intensivo de las relaciones personales como para reconstruir la “red egocentrada” del receptor de las cartas y llevar a cabo un análisis efectivo de redes sociales, aplicando los métodos y parámetros del “Social Network Analysis”. A partir de dos ejemplos centrados en epistolarios del siglo XVIII, los autores muestran las posibilidades y limitaciones de los análisis cualitativos clásicos y el interés de las aportaciones específicas del análisis de redes egocentradas, abogando por la combinación de ambas metodologías., Historically speaking, private correspondence as a means of direct communication between people provides unique source documents that reveals direct, institutionally unmediated interactions among social actors. This article explores the potential of such a source for both qualitative analysis and intensive personal relations in order to reconstruct the "ego-centered network" of letters received, and carry out effective analysis of social networks, using "Social Network Analysis" methodology. Two such examples focus on eighteenth-century epistolary, the authors show the possibilities and limitations of classical qualitative analysis and the import of specific contributions regarding ego-centered network analysis; they advocate the combination of both methods.

Improvements and innovation in health service organization and delivery have become more and more important due to the gap between knowledge and practice, rising costs, medical errors, and the organization of health care systems. Since training and education is widely used to convey and distribute innovative initiatives, we examined the effect that following an intensive Teach-the-Teacher training had on the dissemination of a new structured competency-based feedback technique of assessing clinical competencies among medical specialist's in the Netherlands. We compared this with the effect of the structure of the social network of medical specialists, specifically the network tie strength (strong ties versus weak ties).We measured dissemination of the feedback technique by using a questionnaire filled in by Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics residents (n = 63). Data on network tie strength was gathered with a structured questionnaire given to medical specialists (n = 81). Social network analysis was used to compose the required network coefficients.We found a strong effect for network tie strength and no effect for the Teach-the-Teacher training course on the dissemination of the new structured feedback technique. This paper shows the potential that social networks have for disseminating innovations in health service delivery and organization. Further research is needed into the role and structure of social networks on the diffusion of innovations between departments and the various types of innovations involved. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações. O objectivo deste estudo visa compreender se os indivíduos com um maior capital psicológico positivo possuem maiores redes sociais, na medida em que indivíduos mais optimistas e mais esperançosos ocupam posições centrais nas suas redes e possuem um maior número de ligações fortes e ligações fracas. Os dados foram obtidos em várias empresas do sector público e privado, tendo sido obtido um total de 113 questionários. Os resultados das análises de regressão efectuadas apontam para modelos estatisticamente significativos que suportam as hipóteses de que os indivíduos mais esperançosos ocupam posições centrais e possuem um maior número de ligações fortes nas suas redes sociais, e de que os indivíduos mais optimistas possuem um maior número de ligações fracas. São discutidas algumas implicações sobre o impacto que estas capacidades psicológicas positivas possam ter na estrutura, em termos da centralidade, e nas conexões, em termos de ligações fortes e fracas, dos indivíduos nas suas redes sociais no local de trabalho. The purpose of this study aims to understand if individuals with a more positive psychological capital have larger social networks, to the extent that individuals more optimistic and more hopeful occupy central positions in their networks and have the largest number of strong and weak ties. The data were obtained from several companies in the public and private sector, and a total of 113 questionnaires were obtained. The regression test results point to statistically significant models that support the hypothesis that individuals more hopeful occupy central positions and have a greater number of strong ties in their social networks, and that more optimistic individuals have a greater number of weak ties. Some implications of the impact that positive psychological capacities may have in the structure, in terms of centrality and in the connectivity, in terms of strong and weak ties, of individuals in their social networks in the workplace will be discussed.

The study presents a longitudinal examination about dynamics and consequences of fit and misfit between formally ascribed design interfaces and informal communication networks in two large multi-institutional product development collaborations in space industry. Findings: (1) formally ascribed design interfaces and informal communication networks correlate only marginally. The main reason is that informal communication is much more dense than ascribed; (2) although the formally ascribed design interfaces change, the structure of informal communication remains largely stable throughout time; (3) the most intriguing finding is that this communicational misfit is associated with higher effectiveness, but, it negatively impacts the institutional unit's efficiency. The study presents a longitudinal examination about dynamics and consequences of fit and misfit between formally ascribed design interfaces and informal communication networks in two large multi-institutional product development collaborations in space industry. Findings: (1) formally ascribed design interfaces and informal communication networks correlate only marginally. The main reason is that informal communication is much more dense than ascribed; (2) although the formally ascribed design interfaces change, the structure of informal communication remains largely stable throughout time; (3) the most intriguing finding is that this communicational misfit is associated with higher effectiveness, but, it negatively impacts the institutional unit's efficiency.

We develop a model where information about jobs is essentially obtained through friends and relatives, i.e. strong and weak ties. Workers commute to a business center to work and to interact with other people. We find that housing prices increase with the level of social interactions in the city because information about jobs is transmitted more rapidly and, as a result, individuals are more likely to be employed and to be able to pay higher land rents. We also show that, under some conditions, workers using more their weak ties than strong ties to find a job receive a higher wage. We finally demonstrate that workers living far away from jobs pay lower housing prices but experience higher unemployment rates than those living close to jobs because they mainly rely on their strong ties to obtain information about jobs.

There are two conflicting patterns of network development of founding entrepreneurs that emerge from existing literature. One of them evolves from an identity-based network dominated by strong ties into an intentionally managed network rich in weak ties. The other involves the opposite, with weak ties dominating in the emergence phase and some of them developing into strong ties, the latter of which are characteristic of the early growth phase. The empirical part of this study focused on the development of the networks of 32 IT start-ups in The Netherlands, which we constructed on the basis of secondary data sources and in-depth interviews with the founders. We found three distinct patterns of network development. The conflicting patterns from the literature fitted two of our patterns and we were able to reconcile them by showing how initial founding conditions and post-founding entrepreneurial processes influence tie-formation processes. We propose that the simultaneous effect of these tie-formation processes leads to particular development patterns of weak and strong ties over time, highlighting the importance of investigating network processes. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.