Glossary
- Secondary Hole:
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Gaps in the networks of a focal actor's primary contacts
- Dyadic Constraint:
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Degree to which a focal actor's primary contact can constrain exchange opportunities with third parties
- Aggregate Constraint:
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The sum of dyadic constraints imposed on a focal actor by all his contacts
- Redundant Tie:
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A tie to a cluster of contacts to which a focal actor already has ties with other actors
- Effective Size:
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The number of non-redundant contacts in a focal actor's personal network
Definition
A structural hole refers to an “empty space” between contacts in a person's network. It means that these contacts do not interact closely (though they may be aware of one another). Actors on either side of the structural hole have access to different flows of information (see Fig. 1). Structural holes therefore reflect “an opportunity to broker the flow of information between people, and controlthe...
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Labun, A., Wittek, R. (2014). Structural Holes. In: Alhajj, R., Rokne, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6170-8_263
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