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In social marketplaces, follower ego networks are integral social capital assets for online sellers. While previous research has underscored the positive impact of the follower number on seller performance, little attention has been given to the structure of follower networks and their value implications. This research investigates two structural properties of follower networks—network centralization and density—and examines their main and contingent effects on sellers’ sales performance.

A 13-month panel dataset of 1,150 sellers in Etsy, a social marketplace for handmade and vintage products, was collected and analyzed. A fixed effects model was adopted to validate the hypotheses on the main effect of centralization and density, as well as the moderating effects of two store attributes: store age and product diversification.

We find that both network centralization and density negatively impact sellers’ sales performance, and these effects vary across store age and product diversification levels. Specifically, the negative effect of network centralization is less pronounced for older stores than young ones, whereas the negative effect of density is more severe for stores with high product diversification.

This research contributes to social commerce research by highlighting the significance of network structure, alongside network size, in assessing the value of followers and offers practical guidance for sellers in social marketplaces seeking to optimize their follower networks.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence mechanism of different levels of social capital (Structure holes–local network attributes and indirect ties–global network attributes) and organizational culture on the creativity of key inventors, and the role of organizational culture between social capital and creativity.

The paper tested the hypotheses with a sample of patent data accumulated from 46 firms in Chinese electronic information and automobile sectors. Negative binomial regression was used to explore the factors influencing the creativity of key inventors.

The paper discovers that structural holes are valuable social capital for the creativity of key inventors and very important in firms with a collective and conservative culture. Moreover, it also locates that key inventor are more creative in firms with an individualistic and competitive culture than those in firms with a collective and conservative culture.

This study emphasizes the influence of social capital on creativity and contributes to R&D management. It highlights structural holes are certainly important to key inventors in a collective and conservative culture, thus contradicting preceding studies that locate structural holes useful solely in an individualistic culture. This finding broadens our knowledge of the benefits of this network structure. Also, this debate challenges several basic views on structural holes currently.

Online gaming has emerged as a popular activity providing a social outlet for millions. However, implications of online game networks for mental health remain disputed. Concepts of bridging social capital and bonding social capital may help characterize protective factors within social networks. This study aims to examine the associations between social capital derived from online versus in-person networks and mental health indicators among gamers.

Online gamers (n = 301) completed an online survey assessing their social networks (both in-person and through online gaming) and mental health indicators (depressive symptoms, anxiety, social isolation, perceived social support). Social network analysis was used to analyze bridging (network size, effective size, heterogeneity, weak ties) and bonding (closeness, frequent contact, confiding, connection quality) social capital. Separate linear regression models evaluated associations between bridging and bonding social capital for both online and in-person networks and depressive symptoms, anxiety, social support and social isolation.

In-person network characteristics showed the strongest associations with mental health outcomes. Greater average closeness and frequent confiding in the in-person network predicted lower isolation and fewer depressive symptoms. More diverse relationship types also correlated with lower depression. For online networks, closeness and confiding ties associated only with less isolation and greater support, not depressive symptoms, or anxiety.

While online gaming networks provide some degree of social support, in-person social capital exhibited stronger associations with mental health. This reinforces the importance of face-to-face relationships for emotional well-being. Findings suggest helping gamers cultivate close bonds offline. However, online connections still matter and should not be discounted.

From a social capital perspective, this study aims to shed light on the link between social capital and career adaptability by focusing on how social connections and interactions shape and nurture career adaptability. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, the authors further examined the critical moderating role of age on the above relationship.

Survey responses from 208 HRD professionals were analyzed via a moderated mediation analysis.

The results showed that there is a positive relationship between social capital (network size and intimate network) and career adaptability; frequent interaction increases intimacy, in turn enhancing career adaptability; and the indirect effect of social capital on career adaptability (via intimate network) is stronger when the employee is younger.

The most novel theoretical contribution of this study is that the authors lend empirical support to the connection between social capital and career adaptability moderated by age. The study also contributes to understanding how core aspects of social capital are inter-related each other and have directional relationships.

Being the most powerful creatures on the planet, we humans should carefully consider our beliefs for the simple reason that the way in which we think influences our behaviors; this in turn can either transform the world or negatively affect the world. Our mores, paradigms, and worldviews translate into behaviors (e.g., factory farming for meat production and consumption) that in turn modify the environment. In general, much of our thinking system is backed up by some concept, theory, paradigm, or ideology. Our thinking systems generate our belief systems of goals and mission statements; our belief systems, in turn, determine our behavior systems (e.g., our strategies, choices, commissions, omissions as implementation systems); our behavior systems determine our impact systems (e.g., impact on us, our families and neighborhoods, our cities and villages, our state and our country, our globe and sometimes our cosmos). Thus, our behavior systems eventually impact our thinking systems, which we started with, thus completing a circular or spiral loop. This chapter examines the thinking–beliefs–behaviors–impact loop, exploring its internal and external dynamics and validities. Specifically, in Part I, we examine the structure of our belief systems in business; in Part II, we explore the power of our structured belief systems in business; in Part III, we apply critical thinking that systematically questions and seeks to redesign our presumed thinking and belief systems.

Chinese internet literature (CIL) platforms afford freedom for creative expression and opportunities for direct interactions between writers and fans and among fans. Enabled by these platforms' technological and commercial arrangement, a new form of literary production and consumption has emerged, the most significant of which is the role of fans participation. A social network analysis of the interaction patterns in online fan communities was conducted to investigate fan communication activities at scale. Of particular interest is how the socio-technical system of the site influences its network topology.

Online forums for 10 popular fiction titles in Qidian, the leading CIL platform, were analyzed. Social networks were constructed based on a post–reply–reply threaded discussion structure. Various aspects of fan interactions were analyzed, including number of replies per post, post length and emerging network patterns.

Similarities in network topology shared by CIL fan forums and other online communities, such as small-world and scale properties, were discovered; however, distinct network dynamics were also identified. Consistent with previous findings, writers and moderators, along with a few highly ranked fans, occupied the central positions in the network. This was due to their social roles and the nature of their posts rather than, as the conventional explanation goes, preferential attachment.

The findings demonstrate how community-specific circumstances and norms influence interaction patterns and the resultant network structure. It was revealed that in the CIL sites, the users adopted the technologies in unexpected ways. And the resulting network topology can be attributed to the interplay between the sites' official arrangement and users' adaptive tactics.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2021-0596.

Although extant research on trust focuses on the dyadic relationship (trustor-trustee), the effectiveness of an employee's outcome may vary depending on the features of trust networks. This study examined how an employee's centrality in two types of trust networks (cognitive and affective) among coworkers is associated with employee job performance. Further, this study highlighted the mediating role of compassionate help in the effect of affective trust networks on individual performance.

Survey data were collected from 204 employees and 39 team leaders in South Korea. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results indicated that cognitive trust centrality is positively associated with employee job performance, but affective trust centrality is not. However, an affective trust centrality indirectly increases individual performance via compassionate helping from coworkers.

This study contributes to a better understanding of trust networks and compassionate helping and expands both trust literature and HQR research.

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an innovative construction material that provides a balanced mix of structural stiffness, fabrication flexibility and sustainability. CLT development and innovation diffusion require close collaborations between its supply chain architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing (AECM) stakeholders. As such, the purpose of this study is to provide a preliminary understanding of the knowledge diffusion and innovation process of CLT construction.

The study implemented a longitudinal social network analysis of the AECM companies involved in 100 CLT projects in the UK. The project data were acquired from an industry publication and decoded in the form of a multimode project-company network, which was projected into a single-mode company collaborative network. This complete network was filtered into a four-phase network to allow the longitudinal analysis of the CLT collaborations over time. A set of network and node social network analysis metrics was used to characterize the topology patters of the network and the centrality of the companies.

The study highlighted the scale-free structure of the CLT collaborative network that depends on the influential hubs of timber manufacturers, engineers and contractors to accelerate the innovation diffusion. However, such CLT supply collaborative network structure is more vulnerable to disruptions due to its dependence on these few prominent hubs. Also, the industry collaborative network’s decreased modularity confirms the maturity of the CLT technology and the formation of cohesive clusters of innovation partners. The macro analysis approach of the study highlighted the critical role of supply chain upstream stakeholders due to their higher centralities in the collaborative network. Stronger collaborations were found between the supply chain upstream stakeholders (timber manufacturers) and downstream stakeholders (architects and main contractors).

The study contributes to the field of industrialized and CLT construction by characterizing the collaborative networks between CLT supply chain stakeholders that are critical to propose governmental policies and industry initiatives to advance this sustainable construction material.