Abstract
The chapters assembled in this volume collectively aim to advance the application of social network analysis to knowledge brokerage and policymaking. This body of work provides valuable insights regarding the methodological approaches and associated challenges of detecting and analyzing knowledge brokerage activity in complex systems as brokerage relates to the flow of research evidence. This closing chapter reflects on continuing challenges and emerging opportunities for closing critical gaps in knowledge brokerage scholarship from a social network perspective. The goal of the closing discussion is to inform a future research agenda for expanding knowledge brokerage research and the role of knowledge brokerage in evidence-informed policymaking from the perspective of social network analysis theory and methodology.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aral, S., Muchnik, L., & Sundararajan, A. (2009). Distinguishing influence-based contagion from homophily-driven diffusion in dynamic networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(51), 21544–21549. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908800106.
Baumgartner, F. R., Berry, J. M., Hojnacki, M., Leech, B. L., & Kimball, D. C. (2009). Lobbying and policy change: Who wins, who loses, and why. University of Chicago Press.
Bednarek, A. T., Wyborn, C., Cvitanovic, C., Meyer, R., Colvin, R. M., Addison, P. F. E., Close, S. L., Curran, K., Farooque, M., Goldman, E., Hart, D., Mannix, H., McGreavy, B., Parris, A., Posner, S., Robinson, C., Ryan, M., & Leith, P. (2018). Boundary spanning at the science–policy interface: the practitioners’ perspectives. Sustainability Science, 13(4), 1175–1183. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0550-9.
Borgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009). Network analysis in the social sciences. Science, 323(5916), 892–895. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165821.
Bogenschneider, K., & Corbett, T. J. (2010). Family policy: Becoming a field of inquiry and subfield of social policy. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 783–803. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00730.x.
Bornbaum, C. C., Kornas, K., Peirson, L., & Rosella, L. C. (2015). Exploring the function and effectiveness of knowledge brokers as facilitators of knowledge translation in health-related settings: A systematic review and thematic analysis. Implementation Science, 10(1), 162. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-015-0351-9.
Burt, R. S. (2001). Structural holes versus network closure as social capital. In N. Lin, K. Cook, & R. S. Burt (Eds.), Social capital: Theory and research (pp. 31–56). Routledge.
Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2013). Social contagion theory: Examining dynamic social networks and human behavior. Statistics in Medicine, 32(4), 556–577. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.5408.
Dobbins, M., Hanna, S. E., Ciliska, D., Manske, S., Cameron, R., Mercer, S. L., O’Mara, L., DeCorby, K., & Robeson, P. (2009). A randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of knowledge translation and exchange strategies. Implementation Science, 4. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-61.
Doreian, P., Batagelj, V., & Ferligoj, A. (Eds.). (2020). Advances in network clustering and blockmodeling. Wiley.
Fritsch, M., & Kauffeld-monz, M. (2010). The impact of network structure on knowledge transfer: An application of social network analysis in the context of regional innovation networks. The Annals of Regional Science, 44(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-008-0245-8.
Gesualdo, N., Weber, M. S., & Yanovitzky, I. (2020). Journalists as knowledge brokers. Journalism Studies, 21(1), 127–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1632734.
Gould, R., & Fernandez, R. (1989). Structures of mediation: A formal approach to brokerage in transaction networks. Sociological Methodology, 19, 89–126. https://doi.org/10.2307/270949.
Halevy, N., Halali, E., & Zlatev, J. J. (2018). Brokerage and brokering: An integrative review and organizing framework for third party influence. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1), 215–239. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0024.
Himelboim, I., Smith, M. A., Rainie, L., Shneiderman, B., & Espina, C. (2017). Classifying twitter topic-networks using social network analysis. Social Media + Society, 3(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117691545.
Kingdon, J. W. (2011). Agendas, alternatives and public policy. In W. Matthew & Y. Itzhak (Eds.), Boston and Toronto: Little, Boston and Company (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Kwon, S.-W., Rondi, E., Levin, D. Z., De Massis, A., & Brass, D. J. (2020). Network brokerage: An integrative review and future research agenda. Journal of Management, 46(6), 1092–1120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320914694.
Lizardo, O., & Pirkey Melissa, F. (2014). How organizational theory can help network theorizing: Linking structure and dynamics via cross-level analogies. In Contemporary perspectives on organizational social networks (Vol. 40, pp. 33–56). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2014)0000040002.
Lomas, J. (2000). Essay: Using ‘linkage and exchange’ to move research into policy at a Canadian foundation. Health Affairs, 19(3), 236–240. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.19.3.236.
McGee, Z. A., & Jones, B. D. (2019). Reconceptualizing the policy subsystem: Integration with complexity theory and social network analysis. Policy Studies Journal, 47(S1), S138–S158. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12319.
Meyer, M. (2010). The rise of the knowledge broker. Science Communication, 32(1), 118–127. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547009359797.
Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42.
Mischen, P. A., & Jackson, S. K. (2008). Connecting the Dots: applying complexity theory, knowledge management and social network analaysis to policy implementation. Public Administration Quarterly, 32(3), 314–338. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41288320.
Neal, J. W., Neal, Z. P., Kornbluh, M., Mills, K. J., & Lawlor, J. A. (2015). Brokering the research-practice gap: A typology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 56(3), 422–435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9745-8.
Obstfeld, D., Borgatti S., & Davis, J. (2014). Brokerage as a process: Decoupling third party action from social network structure. In Contemporary perspectives on organizational social networks (Vol. 40, pp. 135–159). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2014)0000040007.
Oliver, K., & Faul, M. V. (2018). Networks and network analysis in evidence, policy and practice. Evidence & Policy, 14(3), 369–379. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426418X15314037224597.
Penuel, W. R., Briggs, D. C., Davidson, K. L., Herlihy, C., Sherer, D., Hill, H. C., Farrell, C., & Allen, A.-R. (2017). How school and district leaders access, perceive, and use research. AERA Open, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417705370.
Ryan, L., & D’Angelo, A. (2018). Changing times: Migrants’ social network analysis and the challenges of longitudinal research. Social Networks, 53, 148–158. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2017.03.003.
Sabatier, P. A., & Jenkins-Smith, H. C. (1993). Policy change and learning: An advocacy coalition approach. Westview Press.
Shelton, R. C., Lee, M., Brotzman, L. E., Crookes, D. M., Jandorf, L., Erwin, D., & Gage-Bouchard, E. A. (2019). Use of social network analysis in the development, dissemination, implementation, and sustainability of health behavior interventions for adults: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 220, 81–101. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.10.013.
Turnhout, E., Stuiver, M., Klostermann, J., Harms, B., & Leeuwis, C. (2013). New roles of science in society: Different repertoires of knowledge brokering. Science and Public Policy, 40(3), 354–365. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scs114.
Valente, T. W. (2012). Network interventions. Science, 337(6090), 49–53. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1217330.
Valente, T. W., & Fosados, R. (2006). Diffusion of innovations and network segmentation: The part played by people in promoting health. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 33(7). https://journals.lww.com/stdjournal/Fulltext/2006/07001/Diffusion_of_Innovations_and_Network_Segmentation_.5.aspx.
Ward, V., House, A., & Hamer, S. (2009a). Knowledge brokering: The missing link in the evidence to action chain? Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 5(3), 267–279. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426409X463811.
Ward, V., House, A., & Hamer, S. (2009b). Developing a framework for transferring knowledge into action: A thematic analysis of the literature. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 14(3), 156–164. https://doi.org/10.1258/jhsrp.2009.008120.
Yanovitzky, I., & Weber, M. S. (2019). News media as knowledge brokers in public policymaking processes. Communication Theory, 29(2), 191–212. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qty023.
Zhang, J., & Centola, D. (2019). Social networks and health: New developments in diffusion, online and offline. Annual Review of Sociology, 45(1), 91–109. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041421.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yanovitzky, I., Weber, M.S. (2021). Closing the Theory–Research Gap in Knowledge Brokerage: Remaining Challenges and Emerging Opportunities. In: Weber, M.S., Yanovitzky, I. (eds) Networks, Knowledge Brokers, and the Public Policymaking Process. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78755-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78755-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-78754-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-78755-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)