A continuous rating method for preferential voting. The incomplete case

A method is given for quantitatively rating the social acceptance of different options which are the matter of a preferential vote. In contrast to a previous article, here the individual votes are allowed to be incomplete, that is, they need not express a comparison between every pair of options. This includes the case where each voter gives an ordered list restricted to a subset of most preferred options. In this connection, the proposed method (except for one of the given variants) carefully distinguishes a lack of information about a given pair of options from a proper tie between them. As in the special case of complete individual votes, the proposed generalization is proved to have certain desirable properties, which include:  the continuity of the rates with respect to the data,  a decomposition property that characterizes certain situations opposite to a tie,  the Condorcet–Smith principle,  and clone consistency.     

Investigating the Task Dependency of Viewing Time Effects

The viewing time method (VT) is an indirect measure of sexual interest in which participants are usually asked to rate the sexual attractiveness of target stimuli while their response latencies are unobtrusively measured. Higher response latencies for a certain group of depicted individuals indicate sexual interest in that group. Contrary to the general assumption that the picture content accounts for this effect by eliciting affect- or attention-based response delays, we hypothesized that the attractiveness rating task might be responsible for the VT effect. To test this hypothesis, we used two different tasks. Our heterosexual and homosexual male participants (N = 50) were instructed to rate the attractiveness or the sex of the depicted individuals. As expected, VT effects only emerged in attractiveness rating trials. Based on these findings, we conclude that VT effects are task dependent and are unlikely to be caused by affective or attentional processes (at least when participants are instructed to rate the attractiveness of target stimuli). We argue that rating tasks in VT measures cause participants to use affect independent response strategies. These response strategies seem to undermine stimulus-driven processes (like increased attention directed toward salient stimuli) which were thought to cause VT effects according to previous hypotheses.     

Social networks and Internet connectivity effects

This paper explores the impact of communication media and the Internet on connectivity between people. Results from a series of social network studies of media use are used as background for exploration of these impacts. These studies explored the use of all available media among members of an academic research group and among distance learners. Asking about media use as well as about the strength of the tie between communicating pairs revealed that those more strongly tied used more media to communicate than weak ties, and that media use within groups conformed to a unidimensional scale, showing a configuration of different tiers of media use supporting social networks of different ties strengths. These results lead to a number of implications regarding media and Internet connectivity, including: how media use can be added to characteristics of social network ties; how introducing a medium can create latent tie connectivity among group members that provides the technical means for activating weak ties, and also how a change in a medium can disrupt existing weak tie networks; how the tiers of media use also suggest that certain media support different kinds of information flow; and the importance of organization-level decisions about what media to provide and promote. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for Internet effects.     

Mobilizing personal networks into concert audiences: The differential multilevel effects in an art convention

As a specific art convention, graduating music students in college often invite network members to attend their degree recitals. This customary practice of network mobilization involves two types of tie effects that seemingly conflicted with each other, which became more acute when the practice abruptly changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on invitation and attendance records collected from seventy-one recitals in a span of two decades before (N = 4866) and during the pandemic (N = 428) in Taiwan, multilevel analysis helped untangle which concert and tie features contributed to successful invitations at both the recital and invitation levels. Recruiting a larger proportion of weak ties helped boost the overall attendance at the recital level, while strong ties ensured positive responses to individual invitations in terms of both meeting at the recital hall and recalling the recital, particularly before the pandemic. More importantly, certain cross-level effects changed during the pandemic while others remained intact.     

Part/whole percentaging as a useful method in policy/program evaluation

Part/whole percentaging analysis is a simple and meaningful way of evaluating alternative policies, decisions, or other options with multiple goals measured on different dimensions. That kind of analysis involves converting the raw scores of each alternative policy on each goal into a part/whole percentage by summing the raw scores for each goal and dividing each raw score by the total. One can then sum the part/whole percentages across the goals for each policy after assigning at least tentative relative weights to each goal. Part/whole percentages are added for goals that one would like to maximize and are subtracted for goals that one would like to minimize. Where the relative weight of a goal or score is too difficult to determine, one can determine the threshold value at which there is a tie between the tentative first choice and the second choice, and then just determine whether the actual value is above or below the threshold value. The aggregated part/whole percentages for each policy can be used to choose the best policy, the best subset of policies, or to allocate a budget across the policies in proportion to their aggregated part/whole percentages.     

The weakness of tie strength

The relationship between network structure and access to novel information has fascinated social scientists for decades, culminating in the recent identification of the bandwidth-diversity tradeoff. Yet, existing work focuses on a unidimensional conception of network ties that leaves many important sources of novel information unexplored. We unpack bandwidth, identifying three factors that govern the transmission behavior of network ties: capacity (the ability of a tie to transmit content), frequency (the average time between tie activations), and redundancy (the extent to which a tie reaches persons who are connected to each other). Empirical analyses and simulation models reveal new types of ties, as well as the conventional variety, that open promising research avenues.     

Personal support networks of immigrants to Spain: A multilevel analysis

Immigrant flows to Spain have increased greatly in the last decade, but little is known about the composition and role of their personal support networks. Our research questions are: (1) Which factors are associated with ties between immigrants and ‘Spaniards’ (the more settled resident Spanish population), compared with immigrants and non-Spaniards (other immigrants)? (2) Do the support roles of Spaniards and non-Spaniards differ? We analyse personal network (ego-net) survey data. Multilevel logistic regression models are applied, in which the unit of analysis is the undirected tie between an immigrant (ego) and an alter and the dependent variable is whether this tie is to a Spaniard alter, as opposed to a non-Spaniard. We determine the characteristics that are most strongly associated with the probability of a tie between an immigrant and a Spaniard, compared with a non-Spaniard, and consider characteristics of the immigrants (ego), the alters, the relative characteristics of ego-alter, support roles, and local geographical factors. We find a tie to a Spaniard alter is more likely if the immigrant’s country of birth is Portugal or Eastern Europe; if the alter is a work colleague or neighbour; if alter is older than ego. There is geographical variation in the probability of ties to Spaniards, partly explained by the local area presence of co-nationals from the same country of origin as the immigrant. A tie to a Spaniard alter is less likely for immigrants from North Africa (Maghreb); those with no previous contact with Spain; those who are not the first of their peer group/family to immigrate; if ego and alter both work in agriculture. Material help is more likely to be exchanged with a Spaniard alter. Non-Spaniard alters are more likely to exchange help with accommodation and information. ‘Finding a job’ is equally associated with Spaniard and non-Spaniard alters. A tentative conclusion is that some combinations of these characteristics, where a tie to a Spaniard is less likely, may be associated with higher levels of prejudice. Conversely, those characteristics that are positively associated with a tie to a Spaniard may indicate situations where integration of the immigrant population with Spaniards is successfully taking place, and where prejudices are lower, or non-existent. These findings may therefore be helpful for targeting resources to reduce such prejudices. The different types of support exchanged between immigrants and Spaniards and immigrants and non-Spaniards, may indicate current shortfalls in this process, as well as indicating where this support is successfully being exchanged.     

Beyond and below racial homophily: ERG models of a friendship network documented on Facebook

A notable feature of U.S. social networks is their high degree of racial homogeneity, which is often attributed to racial homophily--the preference for associating with individuals of the same racial background. The authors unpack racial homogeneity using a theoretical framework that distinguishes between various tie formation mechanisms and their effects on the racial composition of networks, exponential random graph modeling that can disentangle these mechanisms empirically, and a rich new data set based on the Facebook pages of a cohort of college students. They first show that racial homogeneity results not only from racial homophily proper but also from homophily among coethnics of the same racial background and from balancing mechanisms such as the tendency to reciprocate friendships or to befriend the friends of friends, which both amplify the homogeneity effects of homophily. Then, they put the importance of racial homophily further into perspective by comparing its effects to those of other mechanisms of tie formation. Balancing, propinquity based on coresidence, and homophily regarding nonracial categories (e.g., students from "elite" backgrounds or those from particular states) all influence the tie formation process more than does racial homophily.     

Vorwort

Although the concept of tie strength plausibly extends opinion leadership theory, prior studies have indicated that tie strength is of minor importance for opinion leadership. The paper argues that strong ties and weak ties play major roles in the process of opinion leadership that prior studies have insufficiently differentiated due to methodological limitations. Against this background, a methodologically more rigorous reassessment of the association between tie strength and opinion leadership is conducted. The reassessment centers on the combination of ego-centered network analyses with statistical methods of multilevel analysis. These are applied to original data of a study by Schenk (2006) on financial opinion leadership in Germany (n?=?10,100 survey respondents) which has previously been considered as an important indication for tie strength’s minor importance. Empirical results show that strong ties and weak ties are remarkably more important in the process of opinion leadership than previously known. Opinion leaders benefit from strong ties, because personal influence can be carried through them comparatively easily. By contrast, weak ties foster opinion leadership in a structural manner by catalyzing the influence that opinion leaders can exert through strong ties.     

Goal specific social capital and job satisfaction: Effects of different types of networks on instrumental and social aspects of work

This paper addresses the question “To what extent can job satisfaction be explained as the revenue of social capital?” By conceiving someone’s social network as social capital we specify conditions under which social ties do lead to job satisfaction. We inquire into the idea of goal specificity of social capital, which implies that a network with a given structure and content will have different impacts on various aspects of job satisfaction. If the content of the ties and the structure of the network at the job engender material well-being or produce social approval, satisfaction with the corresponding job aspects increases. Data were collected in 1993 using written questionnaires in two Dutch governmental agencies, one with 32 and the other with 44 employees. These workers’ networks were charted using nine name-generating questions.Social capital, it turns out, is not an all-purpose good but one that is goal specific, even within a single domain of life such as work. Three effects stand out: First, the structure of the network and the content of the ties do matter. Networks of strategic, work-related ties promote an employee’s satisfaction with instrumental aspects of the job, like income, security, and career opportunities. Second, closed networks of identity-based solidarity ties improve an employee’s satisfaction with social aspects of the job, like the general social climate at work and cooperation with management and colleagues. Third, a network with a bow–tie structure (i.e., where a focal actor is the link between two or more mutually exclusive cliques) generally has strong negative effects on satisfaction with the social side of the job; although a bow–tie type network of trusting ties does increase satisfaction with the social side. This implies that Krackhardt’s hypothesis on the unpleasant feelings produced by bow–tie type networks has to be specified for the content of the ties that constitute such a network. The most important conclusion of our analysis is that goal specificity of social capital has implications for both structure and content of social networks. Achievement of a particular goal, such as satisfaction at work, requires not only networks of a certain structure or ties with a particular content, but specifically structured networks of ties with a particular content.     

Evaluating heterogeneous brokerage: New conceptual and methodological approaches and their application to multi-level environmental governance networks

We present two new approaches for assessing the relative contributions of different types of actors to heterogeneous brokerage in networks. These approaches distinguish between the tendency of certain types of actors to (1) mediate between dissimilar actors (heterogeneous brokerage “activity”), and (2) be the sole mediators between dissimilar actors (“exclusivity”). We present methods for implementing these approaches, using baseline models of tie formation and node removal, respectively. To illustrate the value of both approaches, independently and in combination, we apply them to evaluate horizontal and vertical heterogeneous brokerage in two environmental governance networks. Our analysis reveals certain types of actors with high heterogeneous brokerage activity but low exclusivity (and vice versa), which has important implications for governance processes and outcomes. Likewise, results show many similarities across the evaluated networks, but also some notable differences, suggesting that the incentives and constraints for heterogeneous brokerage vary not only by actor type, but also by network-level contextual differences.     

Boundary salience: The interactive effect of organizational status distance and geographical proximity on coauthorship tie formation

Our study examines the interactive effect of organizational status distance and geographical proximity on interpersonal professional tie formation. Whereas Blau (1977, 1994) proposes that geographical proximity will weaken the negative effect of organizational status distance on professional tie formation, our analysis of co-authorship in academic accounting over a 30-year period shows that geographical proximity between departments strengthens the negative effect of organizational status distance on the likelihood of coauthorship tie formation. These findings support our proposed “salience hypothesis”, which suggests that geographical proximity heightens the salience of organizational status boundary and consequently impedes people from status-distant organizations to form collaborative ties.     

The measurement of personal values in survey research: a test of alternative rating procedures

When survey researchers are interested in measuring the personal values of respondents, they often use a rating rather than a ranking method because it is easier and faster to administer and yields data that are amenable to parametric statistical analyses. However, because personal values are inherently positive constructs, respondents often exhibit little differentiation among the values and end-pile their ratings toward the positive end of the scale. Such lack of differentiation may potentially affect the statistical properties of the values and the ability to detect relationships with other variables. Two experiments were conducted via mail surveys to general population samples to test alternative rating methods designed to increase differentiation and reduce end-piling in the rating of personal values. The results suggest that a procedure in which respondents first pick their most and least important values, then rate them (most-least), provides more differentiation and less end-piling than a simple rating procedure (rate-only). Increased differentiation for the most-least method influenced the fit of latent structure and resulted in more robust relations between the values ratings and other criterion variables. These results generalized across type of values scale, number of values rated, and number of rating points.     

Language variation on Internet Relay Chat: A social network approach

This paper examines linguistic variation on an Internet Relay Chat channel with respect to the hypothesis, based on the model of Milroy and Milroy (1992), that standard variants tend to be associated with weak social network ties, while vernacular variants are associated with strong network ties. An analysis of frequency of contact as a measure of tie strength reveals a structured relationship between tie strength and several linguistic variants. However, the variant features are associated with social positions in a way that does not correlate neatly with tie strength. An account of these results is proposed in terms of the social functions of the different variables and the larger social context of IRC affecting tie strength.     

Positive and negative tie perceptual accuracy: Pollyanna principle vs. negative asymmetry explanations

We examine the affective content of ties and explore whether negative affective tie content is systematically advantaged or disadvantaged when recalling the social network as compared to positive affective tie content. We test this in three workgroups from two organizations and analyze differences in perceptual accuracy comparing negative and positive affective tie perception. We theorize that ego will be more accurate for others’ positive than negative ties due to generalized positivity bias, or the Pollyanna principle. We also theorize that ego will be more accurate for their own negative ties due to negative asymmetry perspective, as ego will attend more to those ties that pose a personal threat. Findings suggest that observers were more accurate overall about their own and others’ positive compared to negative affective ties. We conclude that the Pollyanna principle is an important factor in explaining perceptions in naturalistic cognitive networks. Supplementary analysis showed that negative ties were more likely to be missed and imagined and having a valenced tie toward another person influences perceptions of that persons’ network ties. Finally, we find that balanced and imbalanced triads were also important factors of relative accuracy. The study’s contribution, limitations, and future research are also discussed.     

Analysis of the response structure to a set of questions with large number of scale points: a new combined metric and categorical approach

In the field of social sciences, certain tasks, such as the identification of typologies and the characterization of groups of individuals according to a set of questions, tend to pose a challenge for researchers. Further complications arise if the chosen rating scale is from 0 to 10, since the responses can be treated either as metric or categorical variables. This paper shows that neither treatment is able on its own to capture all the inherent properties of this type of data, and goes on to propose a bicriteria clustering approach, which captures both perspectives and enables the simultaneous analysis of mixed data using multiple tables.     

Mutual assent or unilateral nomination? A performance comparison of intersection and union rules for integrating self-reports of social relationships

Data collection designs for social network studies frequently involve asking both parties to a potential relationship to report on the presence of absence of that relationship, resulting in two measurements per potential tie. When inferring the underlying network, is it better to estimate the tie as present only when both parties report it as present or do so when either reports it? Employing several data sets in which network structure can be well-determined from large numbers of informant reports, we examine the performance of these two simple rules. Our analysis shows better results for mutual assent across all data sets examined. A theoretical analysis of estimator performance shows that the best rule depends on both underlying error rates and the sparsity of the underlying network, with sparsity driving the superiority of mutual assent in typical social network settings.     

Ratings and rankings: reconsidering the structure of values and their measurement

Despite extensive discussion and analysis over the past three decades, researchers are still divided over the preferability of rating or ranking systems for measuring values. However, the debate originates from the false premise that one method must be used to the exclusion of the other. A conceptualization of the value structure that uses characteristics of both rating and ranking systems opens up theory and research to a more complex understanding of values. Data from the 1995–1997 World Values Survey demonstrate how using both rating and ranking systems can lead to distinct and equally valid conclusions about the differences in value importance among the nations of the world. This suggests that either method by itself provides an incomplete understanding of the value structure. While the potential methodological complications of using both ratings and rankings must be explored, the additional cost would be a productive investment for moving beyond the rating–ranking impasse.     

Schedule flexibility in hourly jobs: unanticipated consequences and promising directions

This article considers the challenge of extending conventional models of flexibility to hourly jobs that are often structured quite differently than the salaried, professional positions for which flexibility options were originally designed. We argue that the assumptions of job rigidity and overwork motivating existing flexibility options may not be broadly applicable across jobs in the US labor market. We focus specifically on two types of flexibility: (1) working reduced hours and (2) varying work timing. We first review central aspects of the US business and policy contexts that inspire our concerns, and then draw on original analyses from US census data and several examples from our comparative case-study research to explain how conventional flexibility options do not always map well onto hourly jobs, and in certain instances may disadvantage workers by undermining their ability to earn an adequate living. We conclude with a discussion of alternative approaches to implementing flexibility in hourly jobs when hours are scarce and fluctuating rather than long and rigid.     

An affective social tie mechanism: Theory,evidence, and implications

This paper presents substantial evidence of a simple social tie mechanism that endogenizes people’s care about other individuals under the influence of interaction experiences. The mechanism is rooted in scientific studies from various disciplines. For our evidence, we propose and estimate a dynamic model of tie formation using different experimental datasets regarding public goods, test its within-sample and out-of-sample predictive performance, and compare it with other models. In addition to the support obtained for the mechanism, we find that the effects of interaction experiences show substantial persistence over time, and that only a minority looks ahead to strategically influence the behavior of interaction partners. Furthermore, our model appears to track the often volatile behavioral dynamics of the different datasets remarkably well. Additional evidence is presented of a neural substrate of the tie mechanism, based on a recent (fMRI) application of the estimated model, and of the explanatory power of our model regarding other extant experimental findings. Implications for private and public governance and topics for future research are discussed.