Showing papers by "Katherine Faust published in 2006"

Testing Multitheoretical, Multilevel Hypotheses About Organizational Networks: An Analytic Framework and Empirical Example

Abstract: Network forms of organization, unlike hierarchies or marketplaces, are agile and are constantly adapting as new links are added and dysfunctional ones dropped. We review some of the theoretical and methodological accomplishments and challenges of contemporary research on organizational networks. We then offer an analytic framework that can be used to specify and statistically test simultaneously multilevel, multitheoretical hypotheses about the structural tendencies of organizational networks. We conclude with an empirical study illustrating some of the capabilities of this framework.

Comparing Social Networks: Size, Density, and Local Structure

Abstract: This paper demonstrates limitations in usefulness o f the triad census for studying similarities among local structural proper ties of social networks. A triad census succinctly summarizes the local stru cture of a network using the frequencies of sixteen isomorphism classes of t riads (sub-graphs of three nodes). The empirical base for this study is a collection of 51 social networks measuring different relational contents (f riendship, advice, agonistic encounters, victories in fights, dominanc e relations, and so on) among a variety of species (humans, chimpanzees, hyenas, monkeys, ponies, cows, and a number of bird species). Results show that, in aggregate, similarities among triad censuses of these empirica l networks are largely explained by nodal and dyadic properties ‐ the dens ity of the network and distributions of mutual, asymmetric, and null dyads . These results remind us that the range of possible network-level propert ies is highly constrained by the size and density of the network and caution should be taken in interpreting higher order structural properties whe n they are largely explained by local network features.