Theories of Communication Networks

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 2003 - Business & Economics - 406 pages
To date, most network research contains one or more of five major problems. First, it tends to be atheoretical, ignoring the various social theories that contain network implications. Second, it explores single levels of analysis rather than the multiple levels out of which most networks are comprised. Third, network analysis has employed very little the insights from contemporary complex systems analysis and computer simulations. Foruth, it typically uses descriptive rather than inferential statistics, thus robbing it of the ability to make claims about the larger universe of networks. Finally, almost all the research is static and cross-sectional rather than dynamic.
Theories of Communication Networks presents solutions to all five problems. The authors develop a multitheoretical model that relates different social science theories with different network properties. This model is multilevel, providing a network decomposition that applies the various social theories to all network levels: individuals, dyads, triples, groups, and the entire network. The book then establishes a model from the perspective of complex adaptive systems and demonstrates how to use Blanche, an agent-based network computer simulation environment, to generate and test network theories and hypotheses. It presents recent developments in network statistical analysis, the p* family, which provides a basis for valid multilevel statistical inferences regarding networks. Finally, it shows how to relate communication networks to other networks, thus providing the basis in conjunction with computer simulations to study the emergence of dynamic organizational networks.
 

Contents

Networks and Flows in Organizational Communication
3
Part I
4
Integration
17
The Multitheoretical Multilevel Framework
27
Network Concepts Measures and the Multitheoretical Multilevel Analytic Framework
29
Communication and Knowledge Networks as Complex Systems
79
Computational Modeling of Networks
99
Part II
120
Social Theories for Studying Communication Networks
139
Theories of SelfInterest and Collective Action
141
Contagion Semantic and Cognitive Theories
173
Exchange and Dependency Theories
209
Homophily Proximity and Social Support Theories
223
Evolutionary and Coevolutionary Theories
241
Multitheoretical Multilevel Models of Communication
293
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