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Dyadic multi-dimensionality informs the variation that exists within and between network ties and suggests that ties are not all the same and not all equally strategic. This chapter presents a model of dyadic evolution grounded in dyadic multi-dimensionality and framed within actor-level, dyadic-level, endogenous, and exogenous contexts. These contexts generate both strategic catalysts that motivate network action and bounded agency that may constrain such network action. Assuming the need to navigate within bounded agency, the model highlights three strategic processes that demonstrate how dyadic multi-dimensionality underlies the evolution of strategic network ties.

The aim of this study is to explore the role of social tie content in the interpersonal knowledge transfer process and to test the effects of different social ties, i.e. distinguishing instrumental tie and expressive tie, on knowledge transfer, using cognition‐ and affect‐based trust as the mediators.

A theoretical model was tested through a survey carried out on 152 MBA students of a university in east China, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed for data analysis.

This research proved that both instrumental and expressive ties will facilitate trust and knowledge transfer. Cognition‐based trust is not essential when low‐tacit, general knowledge is transferred, and the effect of the expressive tie becomes negative when trust is controlled. When transferring general knowledge the instrumental tie is more efficient. However, contrary to the hypothesis, it is found that the effect of the expressive tie is not significantly larger than that of the instrumental tie during the tacit knowledge transfer process.

Besides tacitness, future research may consider involving more dimensions of knowledge into the theoretical model. Longitudinal and cross‐national studies are also needed.

The paper suggests that managers can enhance knowledge transfer among co‐workers by enhancing their instrumental and expressive ties. However, overuse of the expressive tie is risky. The importance of trust construction in organizations is also underscored.

The study reminds scholars to pay attention to the role of tie content in knowledge transfer. The findings also help managers to know how to increase knowledge transfer through promoting intra‐organizational networking.

Traditionally, organizational theory has been a receptacle of methods and mechanisms from network theory. In this paper, we argue that organizational theory can also be an active contributor to network theory’s conceptual development. To that end, we make explicit a theoretical strategy that has only been used informally by network theorists so far, which – following Vaughan (2002) – we refer to as analogical theorizing. Using the basic correspondence between dyadic relationships as the most minimal form of “organization,” we show that processes and mechanisms extracted from various theoretical strands of organizational theory can be mapped onto the dynamics of social relationships. This allows us to build novel theoretical insight as it pertains to issue of relationship emergence, maintenance, and decay in social networks.

Is social network analysis just measures and methods with no theory? We attempt to clarify some confusions, address some previous critiques and controversies surrounding the issues of structure, human agency, endogeneity, tie content, network change, and context, and add a few critiques of our own. We use these issues as an opportunity to discuss the fundamental characteristics of network theory and to provide our thoughts on opportunities for future research in social network analysis.

Purpose: In this chapter, we develop a concept of social biographies which draws on social network and life course theories to examine how a diverse set of social relationships impacts health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) people over time.

Design/methodology/approach: We provide an overview of several decades of research on SGM people's social relationships, organizing this research within a social biographies framework.

Findings: We theorize about the importance of both the structure and content of SGM people's social networks for health, how these social relationships interact with each other, how these social biographies and their impacts shift across SGM cohorts and over the life course, and how they further are shaped by the intersection of a range of factors (e.g., race/ethnicity, social class).

Social biographies can remain constant or change over time, and relationships of all types and durations have the power to significantly improve or undermine health. This is in part because social ties both buffer and exacerbate the inimical effects of stress on health.

Originality/value: Traditional conceptualizations of relationships fail to reflect the diversity of relationships in SGM lives. Studying this diversity deepens our view of how social biographies influence health and how health inequities between SGM and cisgender and heterosexual (cishet) populations emerge. Studying social biographies of SGM people using theoretical and methodological tools from life course and social network perspectives reveals existing voids in the current literature, enabling researchers to better understand the shifting nature of social relationships in the twenty-first century.

In recent years, the network perspective has become highly influential in the strategy research. A number of strategic phenomena and outcomes have been studied successfully by adopting the methodology of social network analysis and taking a relational perspective on firm behavior and outcomes. However, while the social network methodology provides a powerful research tool for strategy researchers, it is fraught with both theoretical and methodological challenges. In this paper, we argue that many of the issues related to using the social network approach in strategy research derive from the use of an essentially individual level methodology being applied to the level of the organization. Organizations being large, complex, and nested entities, the social processes that are implied in network research at the level of the individual are often questionable at the interorganizational level. We identify ten specific issues, grouped under three major heads: issues relating to network structure, to network ties, and to network actors and action. We discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with each issue and conclude with some suggestions for using the network perspective in strategy research.

The sharp increase in interest in social networks among marketing scholars and practitioners has coincided with the rapid proliferation of social networks among broader populations. Considering the substantial body of research that has emerged, it is an opportune time to reflect on the state of social network research (SNR) in marketing. Therefore, this chapter reviews recent marketing research, organized according to substantive areas of interest, followed by a discussion of critical dimensions of SNR for researchers, including network actor characteristics, modes, boundaries, impacts, and mechanisms, as well as the relevant level of analysis. By documenting how SNR can inform marketing decisions and influence marketing outcomes, this study also establishes recommendations for research to advance the state of SNR in marketing. A 2 × 2 classification schema reveals four categories that might guide scholars' choices of research designs, theories, constructs, and measures for SNR.

In this essay, we argue that understanding of meaning in relation to organizational networks warrants a more prominent place in organizational theorizing, because it fulfils a distinct role in the emergence and evolution of networks. Whereas prior studies have tended to address network structures or narrative structures, we suggest that organizational processes might be better understood when addressing the role of meaning and network structures simultaneously. We explain the implications of our argument in an online context, given the growing significance of digitally enabled networks on organizational sociality, and draw on examples in the context of organizational knowledge sharing to support our argument. We conclude by introducing a communication flow model to support the further development of research on organizational meaning networks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge transfer (KT) practices in five construction projects delivering sustainable office buildings in Germany and the UK by using social network analysis (SNA).

Case studies were adopted as research strategy, with one construction project representing one case study. A combination of quantitative data, social network data and some qualitative data on perceptions of the sustainable construction process and its KT were collected through questionnaires. The data were analysed using a combination of descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, content analysis and SNA. This resulted in a KT map of each sustainable construction project.

The findings resulted in a better understanding of how knowledge on sustainable construction is transferred and adopted. They show that large amounts of tacit knowledge were transferred through strong ties in sparse networks.

The findings could offer a solution to secure a certain standard of sustainable building quality through improved KT. The findings indicate a need for further research and discussion on network density, tie strength and tacit KT.

This paper contributes to the literature on KT from a social network perspective. It provides a novel approach through combining concepts of network structure and relatedness in tie contents regarding specialised knowledge, i.e. sustainable construction knowledge. Thereby it provides a robust approach to mapping knowledge flows in office building projects that aim to achieve high levels of sustainability standards.

Establishing thought leadership by disseminating relevant digital content through social media has become one of the main priorities for marketers in business-to-business (B2B) settings. However, academic research has only recently started to address this phenomenon. In particular, researchers have not yet examined whether and how thought leadership positively influences a firm’s relationship with its customers. This paper aims to propose and test a model to explain how a firm’s thought leadership improves its customer relationship performance.

A cross-sectional research design was applied using covariance-based structural equation modeling to estimate the suggested model. Data were collected from a sample of 160 firms in different industries that create and share content on social media.

Thought leadership on social media positively influences brand performance and, in turn, customer relationship performance in B2B settings. Moreover, establishing thought leadership on social media results from specific thought leadership capabilities and is supported by social media capabilities.

This study advances knowledge on social media thought leadership in B2B settings by proposing and testing a model that combines available insights from three distinct but interrelated B2B streams of studies: branding, social media marketing and thought leadership. Moreover, this study conceptualizes the effects of thought leadership, which is consistent with the relational nature of B2B settings. In fact, it explores thought leadership as a means to maintain and strengthen business relationships. However, further studies are needed to explore detailed strategies that affect the effectiveness of thought leadership.

The results provide managers with evidence on the effectiveness of a thought leadership strategy. Establishing thought leadership on social media can help to nurture customer relationships over time. By sharing valuable content, suppliers can continuously demonstrate their cutting-edge competences and expertise, thus keeping their brand relevant to customers.

This is the first study to provide evidence of the benefits of social media thought leadership on customer relationships in B2B settings.