Our societies are heterogeneous in many dimensions such as census, education, religion, ethnic and cultural composition. The links between individuals - e.g. by friendship, marriage or collaboration - are not evenly distributed, but rather tend to be concentrated within the same group. This...

We draw upon resource-based and sociological theories to shed light on nascent entrepreneurs' network development. Employing a unique empirical dataset of nascent entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of venture creation, we examine resource search and homophily as two antecedents of...

The authors examine how adolescent friendship networks are linked to binge drinking trajectories into young adulthood using Add Health. They add to the literature by examining whether an individual’s structural position, (group member, liaison, or isolate), in friendship networks is linked to...

We study how people select their social support ties from their broader personal networks, taking into account the interplay of web-based and face-to-face interactions. Focus is on users of websites, blogs and forums on eating disorders, often dubbed 'pro-ana' and 'pro-mia'. Despite widespread...

This paper employs the empirical tools of social network analysis to examine the “property as social relations” approach to intellectual property. Social network analysis seeks to describe and model society and culture based on the connections between agents in a network. A “property as...

We study how the achievements of university students are influenced by the characteristics and achievements of peers in individuals’ social networks. Defining peer group in terms of friendship and study partner ties enables us to apply a network regression model and thereby disentangle the...

Social computing is bringing about significant changes to the way we operate and interact. The resulting exchange of ideas is seen as key to innovative capacity. While studies have identified various types of network structures, the subject of how different network structures affect performance...

Inventions – concepts, devices, procedures – are often created by networks of interacting agents in which the agents can be individuals (as in a scientific discipline) or they can themselves be collectives (as in firms interacting in a market). Different collectives create and invent at...

Online social networks are used by hundreds of millions of people every day, but little is known about their effect on behavior. In five experiments, we demonstrate that social network use enhances self-esteem in users who are focused on close friends (i.e., strong ties) while browsing their...