Abstract
Social networks are self-organizing, emergent, and complex, such that a pattern appears from the interaction of the elements that make up the system (Newman M, Barabási AL, Watts DJ. The structure and dynamics of networks. Princeton studies in complexity. Princeton University Press, Oxford, 2006). These patterns become more apparent as network size increases. Social network analysis is a collection of concepts, measures, and techniques for relational analysis. It is an approach that is specifically designed to grasp the most important features of social structures and it is unrivalled in this task. It can be used to explore social relations themselves and also the cultural structures of norms and ideas that help to organize those relations in conjunction with material circumstances. The study discusses the ways in which relational and cultural structures can be investigated with a few simple network concepts. Theories of social structure inform and sustain the methods of social network analysis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barnes J (1954) Class and committees in a Norwegian Island Parish. Hum Relat 7:39–58
Brass DJ (1992) Power in organizations: a social network perspective. Res Polit Soc 4:295–323
Borgatti SP, Foster PC (2003) The network paradigm in organizational research: a review and typology. J Manag 29:991–1013
Barabási A-L (2003) Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science, and everyday life. Plum, New York
Burt RS (1976) Positions in networks. Soc Forces 55:93–122
Burt RS (1982) Toward a structural theory of action. Academic, New York
Burt RS (1992) Structural holes: the social structure of competition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Cranmer SJ, Desmarais BA (2011) Inferential network analysis with exponential random graph models. Polit Anal 19(1):66–86
de Nooy W (2012) Graph theoretical approaches to social network analysis. In: Meyers RA (ed) Computational complexity: theory, techniques, and applications. Springer, New York, pp 2864–2877. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-1800 9_176. ISBN 978-1-4614-1800-9
Jones C, Volpe EH (2011) Organizational identification: extending our understanding of social identities through social networks. J Organ Behav 32:413–434
Kadushin C (2012) Understanding social networks: theories, concepts, and findings. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Lincoln JR. (1982) Intra (and inter-) organizational networks. In: Bacharach SB (eds) Research in the sociology of organizations, vol 1. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT
Reis HT, Collins WA (2004) Relationships, human behavior and psychological science. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 13:233
Riketta M, Nienber S (2007) Multiple identities and work motivation: the role of perceived compatibility between nested organizational units. Br J Manag 18:61–77
Strogatz SH (2001) Exploring complex networks. Nature 410:268–276. doi:10.1038/35065725
Tichy N, Fombrun C (1979) Network analysis in organizational settings. Hum Relat 32:923–956
Tichy NM, Tushman ML, Fombrun C (1979) Social network analysis for organizations. Acad Manage Rev 4:507–519
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Erçetin, Ş.Ş., Neyişci, N.B. (2016). Social Network Analysis: A Brief Introduction to the Theory. In: Erçetin, Ş. (eds) Chaos, Complexity and Leadership 2014. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18693-1_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18693-1_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18692-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18693-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)