A social network analysis of South Central Kansas Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the composition and strengths/weaknesses and major actors of a coalition of regional economic leaders in the composites participating in the Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) project aimed at supporting high-skilled and high-wage careers.
Design/methodology/approach
Social network analysis (SNA) was used to assess south-central (SC) Kansas WIRED coalition (n = 81) based on three surveys question: Who do you know? Who do you communicate with? and Who do you collaborate with? All the surveys were administered online in two waves.
Findings
SC Kansas WIRED network has a strong core, well-defined periphery and is immune to key actor losses, which suggests that they are well developed and sustainable. The well-defined periphery positions the collaborative to reach out to resources outside of the network and innovation.
Practical implications
SC Kansas WIRED Leadership team used the SNA to identify opportunities for further collaboration and reach out to individuals and groups who are not engaged well with others but are positioned well for sparking innovation and bringing resources to the region.
Originality/value
There are few analytic resources to empirically examine coalitions/collaboratives and the human and economic resources embedded in them. The results of this study and the feedback from SC Kansas WIRED Leadership team suggests that SNA was very valuable in identifying areas for action or improvement of the SC Kansas WIRED collaborative and can be utilized for effective decision-making.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
All funding for this project was provided by South Central Kansas WIRED Initiative, one of the 39 Workforce Innovations in Regional Development (WIRED) regions funded by the US Department of Labor.
Citation
Dziadkowiec, O., Wituk, S. and Franklin, D. (2015), "A social network analysis of South Central Kansas Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-08-2014-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited