A comparison of email networks and off-line social networks: A study of a medium-sized bank

Recently there has been a surge in the availability of online data concerning the connections between people, and these online data are now widely used to map the social structure of communities. There has been little research, however, on how these new types of relational data correspond to classical measures of social networks. To fill this gap, we contrast the structure of an email network with the underlying friendship, communication, and advice seeking networks. Our study is an explorative case study of a bank, and our data contains emails among employees and a survey of the ego networks of the employees. Through calculating correlations with QAP standard errors and estimating exponential random graph (ERG) models, we find that although the email network is related to the survey-based social networks, email networks are also significantly different: while off-line social networks are strongly shaped by gender, tenure, and hierarchical boundaries, the role of these boundaries are much weaker in the email network.     

Deux définitions de la collégialité et leur articulation: le cas d’un diocèse catholique

Against the background of the conflict observed between managers and professionals, two definitions of collegiality are identified: on the one hand, as a specific organizational form (bottom up) and, on the other, as a procedure of bureaucratic management (top down). A study of networks of priests in a catholic diocese in France is used to explore how these two definitions are related. Questions are raised about the effects of a too narrow organizational rationalization that uses collegiality only as a top down, bureaucratic managerial procedure. This always entails the risk of making the work done by experts sterile because it overlooks the first type of collegiality, which is based on the nature of the nonroutine tasks that members perform jointly thanks to an endogenous organizational structure of a bottom up type.     

Continental transnational activism and women workers' networks within NAFTA

In this article, I present some experiences of transnational networking among women workers, women's groups, and feminist organizations at both the transcontinental and transborder level in the FTAA and NAFTA areas. These transnational efforts are analyzed as forms of resistance to the encroachments of global capital. The record of these networks is both encouraging and problematic. Encouraging because certain issues have received greater attention from both the state and multinational companies, and Mexican organizations have received strategic support to empower themselves and even, in some cases, develop a feminist workers' perspective. The record is also problematic as cooperation is not always free from conflict, or asymmetric relations, among the organizations. Asymmetries often reflect unequal access to power and financial resources. In spite of this, it seems undeniable that transnational networks among women's organizations are modeling new forms of resistance to the processes of global restructuring.     

Radical Ground: Israeli and Palestinian Activists and Joint Protest Against the Wall

We present a comparison of two cases of ‘parading protest’ that share roots in a long Anglo-European tradition but unfolded in very different political and social contexts. Both Orangemen in Northern Ireland and Washingtonian temperance activists in the United States made strategic and contentious use of the power of socially-approved meanings attached to parading. These different cases of parading turned to protest as elements of the ceremonial parade were appropriated by working-class groups to challenge authorities and rally others to the cause. We argue that the centrality of symbols and ritual in social movement, their polysemous character, the authority associated with them, and the social psychological processes through which they operate help explain how parades may be appropriated for both orthodox and insurgent purposes.     

VIRTUAL LEARNING AND THE NETWORK SOCIETY

A wide variety of organizational structures and technologies are associated with the 'virtual campus'. This paper compares the UK's two largest distance learning initiatives: the Open University (OU) and the University for Industry (UfI). The comparison suggests four alternative approaches to 'virtualization' and shows that debate has often under-estimated the variety of possible approaches. The relationship between ICTs, knowledge and organizational structure is complex, reflecting a diversity of values and rationalities embodied by learning institutions.     

Cooperation in the formative years: Evidence from small enterprises in Europe

We empirically analyze factors that might affect the willingness of young small enterprises in several European countries to participate in collaborative agreements. These factors include the characteristics of the firm, of the entrepreneurs, and of the market environment the firm operates in. Within this age group – the “formative” years between 2 and 8 – firms are more likely to engage in collaboration as they grow larger, they are more innovative, they are led by educated and network-experienced entrepreneurs, and they perceive significant market risk, rapidly changing technology, and adequate IPR enforcement. They are more likely to search for collaborative opportunities when their counterparts in the same country and sector tend to do the same.     

Cooperation among competitors as status-seeking behavior: Network ties and status differentiation

Status-based affiliation represents a valuable resource in economic exchange. However, affiliation strategies introduce a status ordering paradox: whereas higher status actors seek to maintain status hierarchies, lower status actors strive to affiliate with more prestigious actors. In this paper, using original data on the network of social and professional ties among 72 hotel managers clustered in an Italian hotel district, we develop a theory of status-seeking behavior that involves the exchange of status for valued resources.     

What's in the “old boys” network? Accessing social capital in gendered and racialized networks

Network processes have long been implicated in the reproduction of labor market inequality, but it remains unclear whether white male networks provide more social capital resources than female and minority networks. Analysis of nationally representative survey data reveals that people in white male networks receive twice as many job leads as people in female/minority networks. White male networks are also comprised of higher status connections than female/minority networks. The information and status benefits of membership in these old boy networks accrue to all respondents and not just white men. Furthermore, gender homophilous contacts offer greater job finding assistance than other contacts. The results specify how social capital flows through gendered and racialized networks.     

Supply Network Structure,Visibility, and Risk Diffusion: A Computational Approach

Understanding and managing supply chain risks is a critical functional competency for today's global enterprises. A lack of this competency can have significant negative outcomes, including costly production and delivery delays, loss of future sales, and a tarnished corporate image. The ability to identify and mitigate risks, however, is complicated as supply chains are becoming increasingly global, complex, and interconnected. Drawing on the complex systems and epidemiology literature, and using a computational modeling and network analysis approach, we examine the impact of global supply network structure on risk diffusion and supply network health and demonstrate the importance of supply network visibility. Our results show a significant association between network structure and both risk diffusion and supply network health. In particular, our results indicate that small‐world supply network topologies consistently outperform supply networks with scale‐free characteristics. Theoretically, our study contributes to our understanding of risk management and supply networks as complex networked systems using a computational approach. Managerially, our study illustrates how decision makers can benefit from a network analytic approach to develop a more holistic understanding of system‐wide risk diffusion and to guide network governance policies for more favorable health level outcomes. The article concludes by highlighting the main findings and discussing possibilities of future research directions.     

Extracurricular activities and teens’ alcohol use: The role of religious and secular sponsorship

Much research has found that more religious youth are less likely to engage in riskier health-related behaviors. However, very little research has examined the role that religion may play in shaping the health-related behaviors of secular youth. There is reason to think that more and less religious youth may gain some health-related benefits from involvement with religious organizations through activities such as basketball and volunteering. Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, this study finds that involvement in religion-supported secular activities is associated with less alcohol use for all involved teens. The number of friends who belong to a religious youth group, in part, explains the relationship. Conversely, network overlap between parents and teens, the number of friends who drink or use drugs, and having an adult confidant from a religious group are not mechanisms that mediate the relationship.