Dynamics of social economy self-organized on social media: following social entrepreneur forum and social economy network on Facebook

Since the Korean government enacted the Social Enterprise Promotion Act of 2007 aiming to foster and support social enterprises, discourse on the social economy has proliferated both quantitatively and qualitatively. One explanation for this phenomenon is that government-driven policies have dominantly led social enterprises to the ecology of the social economy. To cope with pernicious issues such as unemployment, growing demand for welfare, and the widening gap between rich and poor, however, it cannot be discounted that social activists and nonprofits also have facilitated the development of social enterprises by building online and offline networks. To fill this niche of applying these concepts to the Asian context, this research aims to investigate the ecology of the social economy by analyzing critical stakeholders and keywords embedded in self-organizing networks on social media. This case is critical and attractive to researchers and practitioners not only because the discourse on social economy has not been fully examined but also because self-organizing networks on social media act as social capital among stakeholders and thus offer valuable insights into dealing with the enduring problems that government-driven policies seem unsolvable. By analyzing the evolution of self-organizing social economy networks and social entrepreneurs on Facebook, this research provides policy implications for other Asian countries with underdeveloped social economies and theoretically contributes to the field of public policy analysis and management.     

Research on emergency dissemination models for social media based on information entropy

ABSTRACT

The emergency information dissemination model discussed in this paper describes the dissemination and broadcasting characteristics of emergency information on the internet. This model is helpful for predicting the occurrence of incidents and improving the emergency response. We construct an emergency information dissemination model based on the information entropy method. We verify the validity of the model by obtaining emergency data from Sina Blog regarding the Ya’an and Wenchuan earthquakes. We find that the level of information entropy significantly influences emergency information dissemination. From the perspective of information entropy, we can more effectively describe and understand information on the internet concerning emergency responses.     

A social activity and physical contact-based routing algorithm in mobile opportunistic networks for emergency response to sudden disasters

Sudden disasters such as earthquake, flood and hurricane necessitate the employment of communication networks to carry out emergency response activities. Routing has a significant impact on the functionality, performance and flexibility of communication networks. In this article, the routing problem is studied considering the delivery ratio of messages, the overhead ratio of messages and the average delay of messages in mobile opportunistic networks (MONs) for enterprise-level emergency response communications in sudden disaster scenarios. Unlike the traditional routing methods for MONS, this article presents a new two-stage spreading and forwarding dynamic routing algorithm based on the proposed social activity degree and physical contact factor for mobile customers. A new modelling method for describing a dynamic evolving process of the topology structure of a MON is first proposed. Then a multi-copy spreading strategy based on the social activity degree of nodes and a single-copy forwarding strategy based on the physical contact factor between nodes are designed. Compared with the most relevant routing algorithms such as Epidemic, Prophet, Labelled-sim, Dlife-comm and Distribute-sim, the proposed routing algorithm can significantly increase the delivery ratio of messages, and decrease the overhead ratio and average delay of messages.     

A narrative networks approach to understanding coordination practices in emergency response

This paper examines coordination practices in emergency response by adopting a narrative networks approach (Pentland & Feldman, 2007). We apply this approach in the analysis of qualitative data collected in an empirical longitudinal study (2003–2006) of emergency response across a geographical region of Greece. We provide an in-depth narrative analysis of two different emergency incidents and the efforts to coordinate those. The paper concludes with the implications of using a narrative networks approach for understanding the temporal and situated nature of coordination, while placing emphasis on the performativity of coordination practices.     

Disciplinary homogeneity in university departments following the Gelmini law: an exploratory analysis through social networks

Quality & Quantity - The aim of this work is to evaluate the implementation of the Gelmini law; a law that has reorganized the universities into departments in order to create homogeneous...     

A new emergency management dynamic value assessment model based on social media data: a multiphase decision-making perspective

ABSTRACT

User-Generated Content (UGC) is becoming a powerful data source to support emergency management. Managers usually face two difficulties in practical emergency management. First, the requirement topics for emergency management are changing over time. Second, the value of the same microblog is changing over different emergency phases. The contributions of this study lie in the following aspects. First, this paper develops a multiphase dynamic assessment model. Second, an idea for the dynamic evaluation of UGC is proposed. Third, this paper presents an effective quantification method to assess the dynamic value of social media data.     

Evaluating information diffusion speed and its determinants in social media networks during humanitarian crises

The rapid diffusion of information is critical to combat the extreme levels of uncertainty and complexity that surround disaster relief operations. As a means of gathering and sharing information, humanitarian organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on social media platforms based on the Internet. In this paper, we present a field study that examines how effectively information diffuses through social media networks embedded in these platforms. Using a large dataset from Twitter during Hurricane Sandy, we first applied Information Diffusion Theory to characterize diffusion rates. Then, we empirically examined the impact of key elements on information propagation rates on social media. Our results revealed that internal diffusion through social media networks advances at a significantly higher speed than information in these networks coming from external sources. This finding is important because it suggests that social media networks are effective at passing information along during humanitarian crises that require urgent information diffusion. Our results also indicate that dissemination rates depend on the influence of those who originate the information. Moreover, they suggest that information posted earlier during a disaster exhibits a significantly higher speed of diffusion than information that is introduced later during more eventful stages in the disaster. This is because, over time, participation in the diffusion of information declines as more and more communications compete for attention among users.     

发达国家应急管理特点研究

发达国家基本上都是依据法律建立立体化、网络化的综合减灾、应急管理体系,从上到下常设专职机构,由相关专业人员组成抢险救援队伍,军事化或准军事化管理,建立严格而高效的政府信息发布系统,明确政府相关职能和部门合作事项,有超前的灾害研究和事故预防机制,普遍重视灾害意识培养和全社会的应急培训,有充足的应急准备和可靠的信息网络保障.对我们国家应急管理体系建设很有借鉴和启示作用.     

Influences on expatriate social networks in China

This study applied social network theory to investigate the factors influencing expatriate social networks and the consequences of expatriate social networks in China. Based on analysis of 171 Taiwanese expatriates in China, this study found that core self-evaluations and extraversion are significant for expatriates in developing expressive and instrumental ties with host country nationals. Moreover, job autonomy assists expatriates in developing instrumental ties with host country nationals. The expressive and instrumental ties of expatriates with host country nationals are significant for overseas adaptation. Finally, instrumental ties with host country nationals are significant for expatriate job performance.     

The effect of social distancing on the reach of an epidemic in social networks

How does social distancing affect the reach of an epidemic in social networks? We present Monte Carlo simulation results of a susceptible–infected–removed with social distancing model. The key feature of the model is that individuals are limited in the number of acquaintances that they can interact with, thereby constraining disease transmission to an infectious subnetwork of the original social network. While increased social distancing typically reduces the spread of an infectious disease, the magnitude varies greatly depending on the topology of the network, indicating the need for policies that are network dependent. Our results also reveal the importance of coordinating policies at the ‘global’ level. In particular, the public health benefits from social distancing to a group (e.g. a country) may be completely undone if that group maintains connections with outside groups that are not following suit.

     

Expatriates social networks: the role of company size

This study is an extension as well as a test of Caligiuri and Lazarova's model (2002) for the influence of support provided by different network partners (supervisors, co-workers, friends, spouses) on received socio-emotional and instrumental support. We extended this model by examining this relationship in connection with company size. Ninety expatriates were questioned during their foreign assignment: 45 from small and medium-sized enterprises and 45 from large companies. Consistent with our hypothesis expatriates who received support from their co-workers during their foreign sojourn also received more instrumental support. In addition, the type of company moderated the relationship between the network partner friends and socio-emotional and instrumental support. Implications for expatriate adjustment research and practice are discussed.     

Coordination in the El Farol Bar problem: The role of social preferences and social networks

In this paper, we continue the pursuit of the self-coordination mechanism as studied in the El Farol Bar problem. However, in addition to efficiency (the optimal use of the public facility), we are also interested in the distribution of the public resources among all agents. Hence, we consider variants of the El Farol Bar problem, to be distinguished from many early studies in which efficiency is the only concern. We ask whether self-coordinating solutions can exist in some variants of the El Farol Bar problem so that public resources can be optimally used with neither idle capacity nor congestion being incurred and, in the meantime, the resources can be well distributed among all agents. We consider this ideal situation an El Farol version of a “good society”. This paper shows the existence of a positive answer to this inquiry, but the variants involve two elements, which were largely left out in the conventional literature on the El Farol Bar problem. They are social networks and social preferences. We first show, through cellular automata, that social networks can contribute to the emergence of a “good society”. We then show that the addition of some inequity-averse agents can even guarantee the emergence of the “good society”.     

Overcoming equivocality on projects in the fuzzy front end: Bringing social networks back in

The management of the fuzzy front end (FFE) phase of innovation is crucial to the ultimate success of new product and process initiatives. A critical challenge that teams face at this stage is dealing with equivocality – the extent to which project participants grapple with multiple, and plausibly conflicting, meanings and interpretations of the information available to them (Daft and Lengel, 1986; Weick, 1979). While initially, a certain level of equivocality is beneficial for enhancing teams’ creativity and preventing early closure, at some point it must be resolved in order for an idea to become a viable New Product Development (NPD) project. This study employs a social networks perspective to understand how different types of informal work-based relations and their structural properties affect equivocality on project teams in the FFE. In particular, it examines the structural effects of two types of social relations and their associated networks—those of technical-advice and friendship ties. The findings suggest that while high density in projects’ technical-advice network is likely to reduce equivocality, high density in projects’ friendship network is likely to increase it. More interestingly, having multiple members on projects who are highly central in the lab's technical-advice network tends to increase equivocality unless it is balanced with members who occupy positions of high centrality in the lab's friendship network. In addition to contributing to the scholarship on NPD, FFE, and social networks, the results offer managerial insights for deploying social networks in order to assemble NPD teams and structure the flows of communication on projects so as to resolve equivocality in the FFE.     

Organizational scandal on social media: Workers whistleblowing on YouTube and Facebook

The paper explores the emergence of organizational scandals on social media, and how the communicative dynamics of such scandals evolve as a social drama. I propose that when whistleblowers utilize information technologies to expose evidence of organizational misconduct, they, and their audiences, engage in meta- organizational discourse: The reflexive – immediate and durational – interactions through which organizational stakeholders instigate organizational scandals on social media, negotiate the normative boundaries of whistleblowing, and (de)legitimize the act of disclosing managerial transgressions online. I examine an organizational scandal embedded in the recent wave of workers’ unionization struggles in Israel in which whistleblowers performed the role of investigative journalists by posting a video on YouTube exposing a senior manager trying to dissuade workers from joining the union. Following that, on workers’ unionization Facebook pages, union supporters and opponents vigorously deliberated the intentions and consequences of publicly shaming their manager and damaging the reputation of their company. Analyzing workers’ discourse suggests that participants from both sides experienced the scandal as something that affected all company employees. They acknowledged the high visibility of their social drama and recognized the potential impact of whistleblowing online across organizational spatial and temporal boundaries.     

Community connectivity and heterogeneity: clues and insights on cooperation on social networks

While studies on the emergence of cooperation on structured populations abound, only few of them have considered real social networks as the substrate on which individuals interact. As has been shown recently [Lozano et al., PLoS ONE 3(4):e1892, 2008], understanding cooperative behavior on social networks requires knowledge not only of their global (macroscopic) characteristic, but also a deep insight on their community (mesoscopic) structure. In this paper, we look at this problem from the viewpoint of the resilience of cooperation, in particular when there are directed exogenous attacks (insertion of pure defectors) at key locations in the network. We present results of agent-based simulations showing strong evidence that the resilience of social networks is crucially dependent on their community structure, ranging from no resilience to robust cooperative behavior. Our results have important implications for the understanding of how organizations work and can be used as a guide for organization design. This work was supported by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) under grants FIS2006-13321-2 and MOSAICO and by Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) under grant. SIMUMAT-CM. S. Lozano was supported by URV through a FPU grant and by the EU Integrated Project IRRIIS (027568).     

Assessing social support networks in cross-national comparative surveys: Measurement issues

In recent years many cross-national comparative surveys, such as Gender and Generation Programme, International Social Survey Programme, European Quality of Life Survey, or General Social Survey, have included assessment of social support networks. Generally, two approaches were used; the name generator approach and the role relation approach. As more cross-country surveys are conducted every year, it may seem reasonable to use such data sets, since they provide high quality comparisons across countries. However, one should pay close attention to the measurement instruments, as these may cause unintentional but systematic variability in the observed data. While the data from each survey can be of high quality ??per se??, we claim that results from these surveys are not comparable, owing to their different measurement approaches and survey instruments. In this paper we present data from several experiments which show that scientific findings from these surveys depend significantly on questionnaire design.     

Formal and informal networks in small businesses in the media industry

This paper examines the formal and informal networks in small businesses in the media industry. Networks are important to small firms and are an integral part of the structure of the media industry. Technological changes and the proliferation of new channels have changed the nature of the television industry and this paper examines the role of networks in meeting these challenges. The research was based on questionnaires followed up with interviews. This study found that the social and cultural factors were important in the establishment and maintenance of both formal and informal networks. Low barriers to entry in terms of investment in fixed assets and powerful customers have meant that formal and informal networks play an important role in the survival and profitability of small firms in the media industry.     

Team leader experience in improvement teams: A social networks perspective

In this research, we disentangle the relationship between several key aspects of a team leader's experience and the likelihood of improvement project success. Using the lens of socio-technical systems, we argue that the effect of team leader experience derives from the social system as well as the technical system. The aspects of team leader experience we examine include team leader social capital (a part of the social system) and team leader experience leading projects of the same type (a part of the technical system).We examine four different, yet related, dimensions of a team leader's social capital, which we motivate based on the social networks literature. One dimension, team leader familiarity, suggests that social capital is created when team leaders have experience working with current team members on prior improvement projects, and that such social capital increases the likelihood of improvement project success. We develop three additional dimensions, using social network analysis (SNA), to capture the idea that the improvement team leader's social capital extends beyond the current team to include everyone the leader has previously worked with on improvement projects. Contrasting our SNA-based dimensions with team leader familiarity enables us to better understand the impact of a team leader's social capital both inside and beyond the team. We also examine the effect of a team leader's experience leading prior projects of the same type, and consider the extent to which organizational experience may moderate the impact of both team leader social capital and same-type project experience.Based on analysis of archival data of six sigma projects spanning six years from a Fortune 500 consumer products manufacturer, we find that two of our SNA-based dimensions of team leader social capital, as well as experience leading projects of the same type, increase the likelihood of project success. In addition, we show that organizational experience moderates the relationship between team leader same-type project experience and project success. However, this is not the case for the relationship between the dimensions of team leader social capital and project success. These results provide insights regarding how dimensions of team leader experience and organizational experience collectively impact the operational performance of improvement teams.     

A dynamic perspective: local interactions driving the spread of social networks

ABSTRACT

This study takes a micro standpoint to quantitatively verify the extent to which local interactions affect the expansion of dynamic social networks. By reviewing and synthesizing the theoretical literature in this article, we seek to establish a pragmatic analytical framework to capture the underlying functioning of local interactions. It then aims to produce findings on seven distinct marketing campaigns in which the real-world virtual communities offer intact time-series connections. In our considered cases, the firm-to-consumer interactivity plays a pivotal role in social media marketing while the customer-driven influence advances individual information transmission. The significant positive relationships demonstrate features of interactivity within subgroups including reciprocal edges and directed 3-cliques associated with the evolution of the virtual community by electronic word-of-mouth (WOM) of both firm-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer interactions. More importantly, the attenuation of local interactions to a large extent leads to the cut-off point of the growth of the dynamic social network.