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ABSTRACT Introduction Methods Results Conclusion Lonely people often crave social connection, but their social interactions fall short of fulfilling their needs. Although loneliness has been associated with negative views of the world, it is not clear whether these world beliefs contribute to the unfulfilling social interaction patterns that sustain loneliness. This research examined the role of world beliefs in explaining the effects of loneliness on daily frequency and quality of interaction, and the implications for sustained loneliness over time.Both members of romantic couples (N = 472) completed measures of loneliness, world beliefs, and daily social interactions with weak and strong ties over 2 weeks (daily N = 6411) and completed a follow‐up assessment of loneliness a year later.Relative to those who felt connected, lonely people believed the world was worse, dangerous, dull, and did not need them. Loneliness also indirectly predicted reduced quality and quantity of social interaction via negative, dull, and not needed world beliefs. In turn, the quality of interactions with strong ties predicted maintained loneliness a year later. However, dangerous world beliefs predicted better interactions with close relationship partners.Findings suggest that the negative subjective worlds inhabited by lonely people may partially explain why lonely people have unfulfilling social interactions that tend to sustain their loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee "water cooler conversations" with coworkers, as well as interpersonal interactions outside of one's employing organization, are key sources of information about the labor market. Although the value of network ties for job search is well recognized, research to date has tended to focus on how network ties relate to job search outcomes, providing little insight into what types of network ties offer information that shape job seeker perceptions and behaviors throughout the job search process. Drawing from Steel's (2002) evolutionary search model and social network research, we assert that different types of network ties—those that are weak versus strong and those internal versus external to the organization—offer different types of labor market information, which impacts employees' labor market perceptions, propensity to search for employment, and job search effectiveness. Using a time‐separated research design in a sample of healthcare workers, we find weak external ties are associated with more optimistic perceptions of the labor market, increased marketability, and early‐stage job search, and strong external ties are associated with greater marketability and propensity to engage in an early‐stage job search. Strong internal ties (SITs) have dual, opposing influences on employee job search: SITs are associated with less early‐stage job search, but they are also associated with increased concrete prospects when employees are more actively seeking alternative employment. Taken together, this study provides more nuanced insights into how network ties influence employee job search processes, clarifying ambiguities in this literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theorists have proposed that a value of close friends and family—strong ties—is the ability to confide in them when facing difficult issues. But close relationships are complicated, and recent studies report that people sometimes avoid strong ties when facing personal issues. How common is such avoidance? The question speaks to theoretical debates over the nature of "closeness" and practical concerns over social isolation. We develop an approach and test it on new, nationally representative data. We find that, when facing personal difficulties, adult Americans are as likely to avoid as to talk to close friends and family. Most avoidance is not actively reflected on but passively enacted, and, contrary to common belief, is not limited to either specific network members or particular topics, depending instead on the conjunction of member and topic. Building on Simmel, we propose that a theory of the fundamental need to conceal and reveal helps account for the findings. We suggest that there is no more empirical justification for labeling strong ties as those who are trusted than for labeling them as those who are avoided. In turn, isolation might be less a matter of having no intimates than of having repeatedly to avoid them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread significance of digital marketing in disseminating information about products and services across a vast customer base via diverse networks, a noteworthy proportion of businesses still struggle to comprehend the crucial factors underpinning the success of viral campaigns. This study aims not only to bridge this knowledge gap but also to introduce an innovative framework that underscores various factors that amplify the potency of social networks and emphasizes an often-overlooked element in customer engagement: the psychological state of customers. Empirical validation of the framework was conducted using a sample of 135 respondents, which was analyzed using the structured equation modeling technique. The study's findings show that the strength of social connections (strong ties) and the psychological disposition of customers significantly shape the generation and viral dissemination of marketing content across diverse networks. The importance of this research lies in its potential application by commercial companies for conducting promotional and marketing campaigns. By leveraging the proposed model, businesses can effectively promote their products and services, thus achieving their strategic objectives and gaining a competitive advantage in an environment characterized by intense competition and constant change. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2024-05-01-011 Full Text: PDF

Use of social networking sites (SNS) is highly prevalent among college and university students. Conflicting findings were found on the effects of SNS use on well-being, and very few studies examined the effects of social interaction with strong ties and weak ties on SNS on online and offline social support. The present study examined the association between social interaction with weak ties and strong ties on SNS and life satisfaction among Chinese college and university students. The mediating role of online social support and offline social support was also examined. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 26,547 students from 30 colleges/universities in Shanxi province, China. Social interaction with strong ties on SNS was associated with increased offline social support but had no significant association with online support. Social interaction with weak ties on SNS was associated with higher level of online support, but lower level of offline social support. Both offline and online social support were associated with life satisfaction. The direct effects of social interaction with strong ties and weak ties on life satisfaction were not significant. Mediation analyses supported the full mediating effect of offline social support in the relationship between social interaction with strong ties and life satisfaction, while online and offline support mediated the relationship between social interaction with weak ties and life satisfaction. Social interaction with strong ties and weak ties on the SNS was associated with life satisfaction through different pathways. Interventions to maximize the benefits of SNS use are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarship on cross-border labour migration in India is characterised by the notoriety of the labour intermediaries. However, such a focus often eclipses the mutually beneficial social exchanges found among the migrants, would-be migrants, and their larger social circle. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on the migration strategies of a leading migrant community in India-the Mappila Muslims of Kerala. Our findings suggest that, although there is a thriving migration brokerage industry in Kerala, Mappilas secure the crucial labour market information, facilitate their cross-border movement, and obtain the much-coveted Gulf job using close interpersonal connections. With their familiarity and first-hand knowledge of the market practices of the Persian Gulf, the Mappila migrants have internalised and strategically invested in the Arab cultural practice of wasta (securing favours via social connections). The paper also argues how the wasta-based connections of Mappilas help us broaden our understanding of social networks as understood in the Granovettarian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Social interactions today expand beyond in-person interactions. Therefore, it is important to recognize that social interactions can occur with social network members across multiple communication modes (in-person, phone, and online). The current study explored the role that social support plays in the relationship between mode frequency (in-person, phone, and online), network communication mode diversity (breadth and evenness of communicating with network members via different communication modes), and well-being (positive affect, stress, and loneliness) from the 3-year UCNET (UC Berkley Social Networks Study, N = 1159) dataset. The study contained samples for two age groups (cohorts) – 21–31 year-olds and 50–70 year-olds, which also allowed for an exploration of age differences in these relationships. Longitudinal random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) showed a high degree of stability over the 3 years for all variables. Cross-sectional structural equation mediation models showed that social support mediated the relationships of mode frequency (in-person, phone, and online) and network communication mode diversity with well-being (more positive affect and less loneliness and stress). Age differences were found in the relationship between frequency of communication modes and social support, in that the frequency of communication mode was positively related to social support for younger adults, but not for middle-aged/older adults. Current findings provided future research directions geared toward further understanding of the mode frequency and network communication mode diversity constructs and how they relate to various psychosocial outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Diálogo com a Economia Criativa is the property of Dialogo com a Economia Criativa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Entramado is the property of Universidad Libre Seccional Cali and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social capital is often regarded as an important resource when searching for a job. However, unlike in the general labor market, in youth labor markets, leveraging network contacts does not necessarily enhance young people's chances compared to formal job-search methods. Who then uses referrals by strong ties to support their school-to-work transitions? Drawing on the German National Educational Panel Study, we focus on noncollege-bound students searching for apprenticeship places. We investigate whether parental referrals are more likely to be used as a compensation strategy for limited opportunities due to regional conditions and lower levels of schooling and whether this search strategy entails a trade-off in terms of higher dropout risks. Our results indicate that in regions with poor regional labor market conditions, young people use parental referrals more often and also increasingly find apprenticeship places via referrals. Moreover, using referrals does not result in higher dropout risks. Lower-educated school leavers are also more likely to use referrals but they do not benefit from this search channel more than higher-educated youth. We conclude that social contacts can at least partly compensate for poor opportunities due to regional market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thematic gap in decentralization research is how rural councillors with limited political scope assert agency in rural transformation processes. Analysis of councillors' strategic interfaces with local organisations and international agencies outside the elected councils explores how they construct access to resources for rural development. Drawing on fieldwork in rural Ghana, the article demonstrates how creative boundary-spanning links councillors to different structures of rural governance and development intervention outside the remit of the district council. Clearly emergent from this study is that the cross-boundary collaborations create privileged access to outside resources and support for local political action but with significant political and economic consequences for councillors. These collaborative engagements offer a wider framework to understand councillors' individual agency for rural transformation beyond conventional analyses of state-led or bottom-up development planning and the dominant critique of external intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a social network approach to understanding the relationships between academic library employees: knowledge use network and problem solving network with the division into strong and weak ties. The author collected the data based on a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire on a selected population of library staff in a major academic library in Poland. Then, collected data was analyzed through the non-parametric network statistics tests (quadratic assignment procedure [QAP] and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure [MRQAP]) to test dependencies occurring in social networks of librarians. The results show a relationship between knowledge use and problem solving based on strong and weak ties between librarians, with the beta for weak ties higher than for strong ties. The network methodology is becoming a critical research approach used to understand the informal structures and complexity of the academic library. Thus, it is a valuable tool in the hands of library directors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Soziale Welt is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An online survey examined if and how aspects of mediated communication were associated with less loneliness while in isolation and quarantine for COVID-19. A national sample of 490 US participants who were either in isolation, quarantine, or in neither, answered questions regarding their use of mediated communication, the people with whom they communicated, perceived social presence, active and passive social media use, and perceived loneliness. SPSS software was used to run a multivariate regression model to test these potential moderators using a Hochberg (1988) correction for familywise error. For people in isolation and quarantine, relative to neither, the more they used mediated communication with a high degree of social presence, such as voice calls and video calls, the more loneliness they reported. The data also indicate that for those who are not in quarantine or isolation in a pandemic, using mediated communication with a high degree of social presence is related to less loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Maintaining a strong social network in later life can be challenging due to limited resources, life events, and changes in health. Social internet use provides an accessible way for communication that is less susceptible to age-related challenges. Although social internet use is increasingly used by older adults, we do not know how social internet use shapes older adults' offline networks. The purpose of this study is to examine whether social internet use can help maintain strong social relationships., Methods: We used data from three waves (2012-2013, 2015-2016, and 2018-2019) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Our sample included 2,266 older adults aged 55-99 (mean = 68.2 years, 54% female). We included the frequency of social internet use and computed personal network size, contact frequency, and the number of continued, gained, and lost ties over time. Hybrid models were applied to disentangle between within- and between-person associations., Results: More frequent social internet users had significantly larger personal networks and, relative to the previous wave, more continued and gained network ties, compared to less frequent social internet users. A within-person increase in social internet use over time was associated with more continued and gained ties., Discussion: Social internet use may help maintain a strong and stable network, which is important for social connectedness in later life. It allows for additional interaction opportunities, as well as network maintenance and growth. Social internet use thus proves to be a valuable addition to the social interaction resources of older adults., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America.)

In recent years, analysts began to extensively draw on social network analysis to analyze dark networks (i.e., covert and illegal networks). In this article, we draw on network methods to explore the effect of tie strength on two "dark networks" found in the Harry Potter novels—Dumbledore's Army and Voldemort's Death Eaters. We are not the first to draw on social network analysis to analyze a narrative. Network approaches are increasingly being used to analyze narratives and other texts. They can help identify key actors and events, highlight semantic structures, and uncover underlying meanings and mental models. Our analysis finds that several secondary characters play roles as important, or almost as important, as Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Moreover, our comparison of the topographical structure of the two networks suggests that if the fictional world of Harry Potter remotely mirrors reality, Dumbledore's Army is built to withstand stress and uncertainty, while the Death Eaters is not, suggesting that J. K. Rowling has an intuitive understanding of a key difference between networks built on trust and those built on fear. The former live to fight another day; the latter do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

Drawing from social network theory with dual embeddedness and dual ties perspectives, the main purpose of this study is to examine the differing influences of weak ties and strong ties in the supply chain network and competitive network on potential and realised absorptive capacity. According to the empirical results, the weak ties both in the supply chain network and competitive network are positively related to a firm's potential absorptive capacity, while weak ties in the competitive network are more powerful in improving potential capability. The strong ties both in the supply chain network and competitive network are positively related to a firm's realised absorptive capability, while strong ties in the supply chain network are more effective in realised absorptive capability. Besides, complementary term (the product term of potential absorptive capacity and realised absorptive capacity) has significant effects on a firm's innovative performance. Finally, we discuss implications of this research and offer suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the elements of a mother's social network integral to the success or failure of the information and communication technology (ICT) intervention. It examined an eHealth kiosk intervention in 10 villages over 7 years focusing on infant mortality that might occur from the time of birth through the first year of life. It suggests that addressing the problem with ICT requires a contextual perspective with focus on mothers' social networks.

This study aims to investigate how tie strength in business networks affects successful knowledge sharing, as well as the impact of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between knowledge sharing and tie strength. We gathered data through a questionnaire-based survey of 310 employees affiliated with a high-technology industry in Korea. The results highlighted the positive influence of strong ties on tacit knowledge sharing and weak ties on explicit knowledge sharing. Additionally, in this study, we determine that strong ties are strengthened to share tacit knowledge with exchange parties when environmental uncertainty is high, whereas weak ties may remain unaffected by environmental uncertainty. This study contributes to the literature on tie strength and knowledge sharing by applying social capital theory to a high-technology industry. The findings suggest that firms must take advantage of strong and weak ties to facilitate knowledge sharing to enhance competency, create novel knowledge, and obtain a competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proximity literature usually treats proximity in terms of common attributes shared by agents, disregarding the relative position of an actor inside the network. This paper discusses the importance of such dimension of proximity, labelled as in-network proximity, and proposes an empirical measurement for it, assessing its impact (jointly with other dimensions of proximity) on the creation of strong knowledge network ties in ICT in the region of Trentino. The findings show that actors with higher in-network proximity are more attractive for both other central actors and peripheral ones, which is further strengthening their position within the network. In detail, the centrally positioned actors repeat collaboration with other central actors in the network, as central actors gather more 'reputation', signalling that they will possess the needed knowledge resources. Relatively peripheral actors, either new or not so active inside the network, seek for collaboration with relatively central actors in order to tap on knowledge resources they do not acquire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Important to consider the association between homophily and tie strength. • Defines concepts of strong and weak tie homophily and proposes associated ERGM terms. • Analyzes random, simulated networks and an empirical adolescent friendship network. • Strong and weak tie homophily operate at different magnitudes in most networks. • Some networks are defined by strong tie homophily and no weak tie homophily, or vice versa. Homophily, or the tendency for social contact to occur among those who are similar, plays a crucial role in structuring our social networks. Most previous work considers whether homophily shapes the patterns of all social ties, regardless of their frequency of interaction or level of intimacy. As complex network data become increasingly available, however, researchers need to evaluate whether homophily operates differently for ties defined by strong versus weak measures of strength. Here, I take this approach by first defining two variants of homophily: (1) strong tie homophily , or the tendency for ties with high measures of strength to cluster together similar peers, and (2) weak tie homophily , or the tendency for ties with low edge weights to connect same-attribute actors. Then, I apply valued ERGMs to demonstrate the utility of differentiating between the two variants across simulated and observed networks. In most networks, I find that there are observable differences in the magnitude of strong versus weak tie homophily. Additionally, when there are low levels of clustering on the attribute of interest, distinguishing between strong and weak tie homophily can reveal that these processes operate in opposite directions. Since strong and weak ties carry substantively different implications, I argue that differentiating between the two homophily variants has the potential to uncover novel insights on a variety of social phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great urbanist Jane Jacobs details how urban planning impacts the social interactions and social networks responsible for the economic death or life of a city. How might urban planning impinge on the moral values that underlie that development? I draw on Jacobs's work on the moral foundations of commercial society to identify two "urban values" (tolerance and innovation). I then examine how these values support the social networks and processes that facilitate urban-based innovation and how urban planning can strengthen or undermine those values. I use the examples of urban planning in the 15th Ward of Syracuse, New York and of city building in the private development of Cayalá in Guatemala City to illustrate these points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elevated satisfaction that comes from interacting with close ties, as opposed to distal ties, is well-established in past research. What remains less clear is how the quality of daily interactions between close versus distal ties may vary as a function of personality. Drawing on data from a 2-week experience sampling study (N = 108 participants, N = 7755 observations), we consider how trait rejection sensitivity (RS)—or the tendency to worry about potential social rejection—interacts with perceived closeness and interaction channel (i.e., face-to-face vs. technology-mediated) in daily life. We find that individuals who are high (vs. low) in rejection sensitivity not only view distal tie interactions as less satisfying, they also perceive close tie exchanges as more enjoyable and supportive—but only for technology-mediated (vs. face-to-face) interactions. We also find that individuals who are high in rejection sensitivity have higher variability in the perceived quality of their interactions. These findings demonstrate the interlocked factors of personality tendencies, perceived closeness, and interaction channel in shaping the variability in the quality of daily interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great urbanist Jane Jacobs details how urban planning impacts the social interactions and social networks responsible for the economic death or life of a city. How might urban planning impinge on the moral values that underlie that development? I draw on Jacobs's work on the moral foundations of commercial society to identify two "urban values" (tolerance and innovation). I then examine how these values support the social networks and processes that facilitate urban-based innovation and how urban planning can strengthen or undermine those values. I use the examples of urban planning in the 15th Ward of Syracuse, New York and of city building in the private development of Cayalá in Guatemala City to illustrate these points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]