Balance Theory

Some of the materials presented in this thesis have either been published by the thesis' author or are currently in submission. The author has made principal contributions to all stages of the conception and production of the published, under publication and submitted works mentioned below. A major part of the content of Chapter 2 has been published as O. Askarisichani, J.N. Lane, F Bullo, NE Friedkin, AK Singh, and B Uzzi. "Structural balance emerges and explains performance in risky decisionmaking." Nature Communications volume 10, page 2648, (2019).

Some of the materials presented in this thesis have either been published by the thesis' author or are currently in submission. The author has made principal contributions to all stages of the conception and production of the published, under publication and submitted works mentioned below. A major part of the content of Chapter 2 has been published as O. Askarisichani, J.N. Lane, F Bullo, NE Friedkin, AK Singh, and B Uzzi. "Structural balance emerges and explains performance in risky decisionmaking." Nature Communications volume 10, page 2648, (2019).

Despite recent advances in applying networks to study ecological systems, most of the network datasets are built attending only to a single type of interaction between nodes, which can be an oversimplification. In the present work, we built ecological networks that had positive and negative links for multiple plant communities based on the local spatial association between species. Then, we evaluated whether those networks were in balance, a hypothesis commonly formulated for real signed graphs but never tested in systems other than social networks. Specifically, we quantified the global and the local structural balance in the networks. We found that plant community networks were more balanced than expected by chance, and that this pattern was due to a large number of balanced triads to the detriment of unbalanced ones. Furthermore, this pattern was consistent among all of the types of the plant communities examined, which suggests that configurations that promote structural balance might be common in ecological signed networks. We also found that almost all networks had some unbalanced components, which might be responsible for the adaptation of the system. Mechanisms behind these structure and possible applications for community ecology are discussed. Our results encourage testing structural balance in other ecological networks to confirm if it is a widespread architecture of natural systems.

تبحث الدراسة في الإجراءات والخطوات المنهجية التي استندت إليها عينة من التحقيقات البيئية في بناء قصصها وصياغة آلية كتابتها وفرضياتها، وتحاول الإجابة على ما قيل إليه كاتب ما روى: إلى أي حدّ تَحقّقَت هذه التحقيقات في تحليلاتها المضمونية، واتّبعت لأدلّةٍ ومقارنةٍ بالبرهان والحجّة، على النهج العلمي للوصول إلى نتائج ذات كفاءة مهنية متكافئة، والإجابة على جميع الأسئلة الرئيسة والفرعية للموضوع؟ اعتمدت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي-النوعي في تحليلها لمخرجات العينة القصدية التي تكونت من خمسين تحقيقًا أعدّها صحفيون، في نماذج من دول متعددة، تتناول قضايا بيئية، نُشِرت في الفترة بين 2013 و2021، وتمّت الإحالة إلى نتائجها وأدلتها، والفرضيات التي بُنيت عليها، وفق محددات التحليل النصي لمنهجية البحث العلمي. واتّضح أنماط الخصائص البنيوية والسردية والمعرفية للتحقيقات البيئية ونتائج التحليل والخصائص التي تبيّن اعتمادًا واضحًا على مبادئ البحث العلمي، والمتغيرات التي حدّدت مخرجات العينة بما يتّفق وفرضيات منطقية، ومنهج علمي واضح. وترى الدراسة أن التحقيقات أفقدت معلومات بنية كل قاعدة معرفية مهمة، لأجل أن تحقّق أنموذجًا معرفيًا، لأن أسئلةً كثيرةً لم تُطرح عند انبثاق القصة، من دون إجابات، كما أن الصحفيين لم يقوموا بإعادة النظر في الفرضيات الأولى للتحقيقات، وأن أغلبهم لم يجد المصادر للمعلومات والوثائق والأشهادات المطلوبة في بناء القصة التحقيقية.

In this paper, we address the general question of how negative social influence determines global voting patterns for a group-based population, when individuals face binary decisions. The intrinsic relation between global patterns and local structure motifs distribution is investigated based on Hopfield model. By simulating results with the model, we examine the group opinions polarization processes, and find that the global pattern of group opinions polarization is closely linked with local level structure balance. This computing result is well agreed with the classic structure balance theory of social psychology.

Many universities, and other higher education institutions, have adopted an approach to teaching and the delivery of course content that combines traditional face-to-face delivery with online teaching resources: a blended learning approach. It does not follow, however, that merely defining a policy in this area will cause the desired result, as first the new ideas have to be adopted by all those involved. Many factors act to determine how online learning is accepted and how the balance between online and face-to-face delivery is formed. This paper investigates the factors that determine the way that online resources have been implemented in a core first-year accounting subject. The approach used is one involving actor-network theory because of the combinations of both human and non-human actors involved. In this paper, the main actors are identified, and we look at how their views of the value of each approach and their willingness to attempt to convince others of the ''rightness" of these views affects the outcome.

Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Fortschritt als Legitimationsbasis für die Dignität wissenschaftlicher Arbeit einerseits und als schillerndem Begriff ohne inhaltliche Verbindlichkeit andererseits wird ein Konzept zur präzisen inhaltlichen Bestimmung des Fortschrittsbegriffs vorgestellt. Dieses Fortschrittskonzept beruht auf dem strukturalistischen Theorienkonzept des "non statement view". Zur Operationalisierung des strukturalistischen Fortschrittskonzepts werden formalsprachliche Kriterien entwickelt, die es gestatten, die Fortschrittlichkeit von jeweils zwei miteinander verglichenen Theorien zu beurteilen. Diese Kriterien "relativer" Fortschrittlichkeit erfordern lediglich Überprüfungen, ob zwischen ausgezeichneten Komponenten von strukturalistisch (re-)konstruierten Theorien mengentheoretische Inklusionsbeziehungen bestehen. Mittels der Inklusionsbeziehungen werden Fortschrittsrelationen spezifiziert, die eine konkrete Messung des theoretischen Fortschritts auf einer Ordinalskala erlauben. 1) Die Attribute relational und relativ werden hier hinsichtlich der Fortschrittlichkeit von Theorien synonym verwendet. Zelewski: Relativer Fortschritt von Theorien Seite 3 In der hier gebotenen Kürze ist es nicht möglich, den State-of-the-art zum Erkenntnisgegenstand "theoretischer Fortschritt" 1) aufzuarbeiten. Weder die vielfältigen Beiträge zur Explikation von wissenschaftlichem Fortschritt 2) noch die unterschiedlichen Auffassungen darüber, was unter einer wis-1) Mit der Formulierung "theoretischer Fortschritt" wird signalisiert, dass es in diesem Beitrag nicht um einen allgemeinen Fortschrittsbegriff geht, der sich auf beliebige Objekte wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis beziehen lässt. Vielmehr fokussiert sich der vorliegende Beitrag auf ein spezielles Fortschrittsverständnis, das sich nur auf die Fortschrittlichkeit von (wissenschaftlichen) Theorien erstreckt. Diese Fokussierung beruht auf dem (Vor-) Urteil, dass Theorien die wichtigste Wissensform für die Repräsentation wissenschaftlichen Wissens darstellen. Darüber hinaus erfolgt eine Einschränkung auf realwissenschaftliche Theorien, weil hier im Kontext der Wirtschaftswissenschaften, insbesondere der Betriebswirtschaftslehre und der Wirtschaftsinformatik, argumentiert wird. Es besteht im Allgemeinen kein Zweifel daran, diese Wissenschaften der Gruppe der Realwissenschaften -und nicht etwa den Formal-oder Strukturwissenschaften -zuzurechnen. 2) Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt (scientific progress) wird des Öfteren auch unter anderen Bezeichnungen thematisiert, wie z.B. als Theoriendynamik (theory dynamics) und als wissenschaftlicher Wandel (scientific change). Diese Bezeichnungen werden hier synonym verwendet. Vgl. zu Beiträgen, die sich den vorgenannten Themen wid-

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

The study aimed to identify the factors influencing Jordanian journalists’ practice of investigative journalism, relying on the media survey approach, by conducting a field survey on an available sample of (240) male and female journalists practicing journalism in press and media institutions in Jordan, by relying on the hierarchical model of influences. The results of the study showed that (63.7%) of Jordanian journalists did not practice investigative journalism in their journalistic work, while the most prominent reasons for not practicing investigative journalism were: lack of interest in investigative journalism (26.9%), lack of freedom in investigative journalism (19.6%), and low level of experience sufficient to practice investigative work. The results showed that professional principles were the most prominent factors influencing Jordanian journalists’ practice of investigative journalism (4.34), then laws and legislation regulating journalistic work (4.09), then social values ​​(4.06), then political pressures (3.95), then economic policy (3.84), and finally security pressures (3.58). The results concluded that it is necessary to pay attention to investigative journalism in press and media institutions in Jordan, provide the necessary financial support for it, prevent the authorities from interfering in the course of investigative investigations, and review the media laws and legislation in Jordan in order to practice investigative journalism freely.

This paper is an attempt to broaden the standard economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas the concept of the decision-maker in standard economics is the rational actor, and in early work in behavioral economics it is the quasi-rational actor, in some of the recent work in behavioral economics it could be called the enculturated actor. By the enculturated actor, we mean an actor whose preferences and cognition are subject to two social influences that go beyond the context of the moment of decision-making: (a) the social contexts to which the actor has become exposed and, especially accustomed; and (b) cultural mental models-including categories, narratives, and worldviews. We trace how these factors shape individuals' behavior through the endogenous determination of both preferences and the lenses through which individuals see the world-their perception, categorization, and interpretation of situations. We offer a tentative taxonomy of the social determinants of behavior and describe results of both controlled and natural experiments that only a broader view of the social determinants of behavior can plausibly explain. The perspective suggests new tools to promote well-being and economic development.

This paper studies the signed networks in the presence of stubborn links, based on the structural balance theory. Each agent in the network has a mixture of positive and negative links represent friendly and antagonistic interactions and his stubbornness about interactions. Structural balance theory affirms that in signed social networks with simultaneous friendly/hostile interactions, there is a general tendency of evolving over time to reduce the tensions. From this perspective, individuals iteratively invert their own sentiments to reduce the felt tensions induced by imbalance. In this paper, we investigate the consequences of the agents' stubbornness on their interactions. We define stubbornness as an extreme antagonistic interaction which is resistant to change. In the current paper, we investigated if the presence of stubborn links renders an impact on the balance state of the network and whether or not the degree of balance in a signed network depends on the location of s...

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions "Social Balance": emergent properties in the network of relationships Balanced triads: • "A friend of a friend is also a friend." • "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Problem: sometimes the unbalanced (or frustrated) triangles are common. alliances of players from March 2015 to April 2016. • Two networks: "Big alliances" (+200 members) and "Alliances with sovereignty" (SOV).

Analyzing previous studies indicates that the concept of media-morphosis was totally correct that the traditional media has been transformed to digital media and accordingly the application of the traditional media theories on cyber communication is valid. It is true that some other research were done on Cyber communication according to the different nature of the new social media platforms. Individuals are totally relying on the social networks as an essential part of their daily lives, and as digital media is gradually replacing the traditional media, old traditional media theories is progressively adapting to the new digital environment and its application.
  Katz (1959) suggested that the field might save itself by turning to the question “What do people do with the media?” Individuals have considerably different uses and gratifications; they take and share messages with different shape and content and so interact. This also means that uses and gratifications approach is confirmed and it can be occurring in the new media orientation in various ways.
Although, diffusion of innovation and knowledge gap were used intensively as traditional media theories, applications on digital media showed their applicability for cyber communication. As many sites that appear to be helpful and neutral sources of information are actually run by businesses trying to sell products.  Many online news sites are now blurring the distinction between editorial content and advertising, a distinction that has long been a fundamental rule of journalism.
As McCombs and Shaw (1993) stated in their paper about the evolution of agenda setting with rapid change of communication nature; “the continuing and growing validity is remarkable.” Related issue that has been introduced in some studies is the concept of credibility has been a long-standing issue in mass communication research among the new media, even more than traditional media. The Internet raises issue of the accuracy, reliability, and adequacy of information. Chat rooms and multiplayer games raise questions of whether people are who they appear to be.  The push for speed on the Internet may make even a major news organization release information without checking it out carefully.
Finally, we can conclude that old traditional theories are developing to deal with Internet. And most of the research on cyber communication has been using the old traditional media theories with the integration of digital concepts such as interactivity, hypertext, and multimedia.

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions "Social Balance": emergent properties in the network of relationships Balanced triads: • "A friend of a friend is also a friend." • "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Problem: sometimes the unbalanced (or frustrated) triangles are common. alliances of players from March 2015 to April 2016. • Two networks: "Big alliances" (+200 members) and "Alliances with sovereignty" (SOV).

This study aims to investigate how much Jordanian journalists depend on mobile phones to produce media content, it also aims to investigate the reasons stand behind using mobile in the media and the required skills that journalists need to produce media content. The researchers used a questionnaire as a tool to collect the data from (151) Jordanian journalists by using a simple random sample. The main findings of this study were: The overwhelming majority (63%) of the sample depend heavily on mobile journalism to produce media content. The results also showed that the main reason to use the mobile journalism to produce media content was the accuracy and the quickness offered by mobile phones (4.36 out of 5).-The results found that editing news was the most used motivation for Jordanian journalists in producing media content(61%). The most important required skills that used to produce media content was the fact that mobiles able journalists to shoot video and edit it (4.28 out of 5).

This study aims to investigate how much Jordanian journalists depend on mobile phones to produce media content, it also aims to investigate the reasons stand behind using mobile in the media and the required skills that journalists need to produce media content. The researchers used a questionnaire as a tool to collect the data from (151) Jordanian journalists by using a simple random sample. The main findings of this study were: The overwhelming majority (63%) of the sample depend heavily on mobile journalism to produce media content. The results also showed that the main reason to use the mobile journalism to produce media content was the accuracy and the quickness offered by mobile phones (4.36 out of 5). - The results found that editing news was the most used motivation for Jordanian journalists in producing media content(61%) . The most important required skills that used to produce media content was the fact that mobiles able journalists to shoot video and edit it (4.28 out of...

A central topic both in philosophy of science as weil as in the empirical sciences is the reconstruction of the relations between theories. In the past comparisons of theories by means of traditional linguistic methods have proved to be extremely difficult and complicated. In this article the reconstruction of intertheoretical relations based on model-theoretical terms is propagated, as formulated within the structuralist view of theories. Tbe efficiency of a model theoretical based comparison of theories is demonstrated by two theory elements from the social science research prograrn of balance theories: Tbe basic element by Heider and the transitivity theory by Holland and Leinhardt. First of all both theory elements are introduced informally and reconstructed in the structuralist format. On the basis of these reconstructions can be shown, that the Heider theory can be formally reduced to the Holland-Leinhardt theory and that the theory younger in history means an improvement. However, an integration of all balance theoretical elements into a theory net is not possible.

We examine the effects of pre‐existing organizational attitudes on consumer response to cause‐related marketing (CRM) alliances, using a Balance Theory framework. Two experiments demonstrate that balanced attitudes (either both positive or both negative) resulted in perceptions of appropriateness, but did not necessarily lead to positive affect. The positive balance scenario led to a synergistic attitudinal boost when both pre‐existing attitudes were positive. Attitudinal contamination was evident when either pre‐existing attitude was negative. Fit operated within the balance scenario to enhance perceptions of the strength of the CRM alliance, leading to more positive responses.

The study of balance in signed networks has been a key topic for over 80 years. Starting with Heider's theory of structural balance and Harary's balance theorem, the measurement and understanding of structural balance in networks has grown exponentially. Most theoretical and empirical studies, however, focus on balance on the network as a whole, even though the degree of balance may strongly vary within the network. Our study makes two key contributions to this literature. First, we offer a methodology for measuring balance between nodes in a network. We show that dyadic (im)balance reveals significant information about localized balance that is not apparent in a global metric of balance. Second, we show that this metric can be applied to data containing multiple relations, for example, friendship, enmity, trade and fights, which reveals balance and imbalance otherwise hidden when focusing on only two relations (e.g. friends and enemies). Namely, while balance typically involves unweighted signed networks, multiple relations can naturally be condensed into a weighted signed network where positive (negative) weights correspond to a sum of positive (negative) relations between nodes. Our dyadic imbalance metric can then be applied to this and any other weighted signed network. These findings are illustrated with an international relations network as well as a network on roll call votes in the US Senate and compared to a null model that preserves network structure. We find weak agreement with Heider's balance theory, including imbalance that decreases in time, and imbalance that is generally lower than our null model.

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions "Social Balance": emergent properties in the network of relationships Balanced triads: • "A friend of a friend is also a friend." • "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Problem: sometimes the unbalanced (or frustrated) triangles are common. alliances of players from March 2015 to April 2016. • Two networks: "Big alliances" (+200 members) and "Alliances with sovereignty" (SOV).

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions "Social Balance": emergent properties in the network of relationships Balanced triads: • "A friend of a friend is also a friend." • "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Problem: sometimes the unbalanced (or frustrated) triangles are common. alliances of players from March 2015 to April 2016. • Two networks: "Big alliances" (+200 members) and "Alliances with sovereignty" (SOV).

We present a form of temporal network called a "temporal web" that connects nodes across time into a single temporally extended acyclic directed graph as a way to capture contingent behaviors. This representation is especially useful for uncovering and measuring social influence. We first present the general temporal web technique and then use it to analyze three empirical datasets: political relationships in the game EVE Online, interbank loans of the Russian banking system, and Twitter posts regarding the H1N1 vaccine. For each dataset we provide a detailed breakdown of the contingent behaviors using an approach we call temporal influence abduction. We then construct a temporal web for each one and describe the patterns of propagation found. Based on these patterns of propagation we infer more general properties of influence and the impact of certain types of behaviors in each system.

The call for historical research In IS, mirrored in other fields of business studies, is an expiicit recognition of the predominance of presentism in business research; the use of the past oniy to justify and validate current beliefs or inserting modern beliefs onto the past, rather than using the past to understand and reveal current assumptions and biases. There Is freedom in severing time and centering ourselves and our artifacts (computer technology), looking to Improve the future unburdened by the past. Yet, if that assumption is wrong, and the present is instead fluid and unstable because the past embedded in the present is tension filled and unresolved, this raises fundamental challenges to the work that we do, the value of that work to others, and is cause for reflection on our impact as educators. This paper demonstrates the merits of using Actor-Network Theory as a methodology for historical IS research, through its use in a Canadian case study. The study was prompted by the apparent resolution of a privacy controversy, involving personal motor vehicle registration information in the province of Alberta, through an appeal to something called 'historical purposes and practices.' Strangely, the purposes and practices were never identified. This begged the question, 'what was the substance of this argument and how come it was successful?' Tracing actual 'purposes and practices,' from the early 1900s to the present, reveals how historical, contextual understanding offers not only insights into, but can alter our very understanding of, the present.

The article deals with the former US President Bush’s plan for the so-called third pillar of the American missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic in the context of American-Iranian and American-Russian relations. We assess the explanatory power of different but interconnected (neo)realist conceptualizations of security dilemma and deterrence. Specifically, the study evaluates the relative importance of classical security dilemma versus imperialist security dilemma and the explanatory power of three different modalities of deterrence. The paper further shows how Iran and Russia balanced the United States. We also argue that the American missile defense system was not primarily motivated by defensive realist worries about security, but rather by an offensive realist struggle for power and gains at the expense of others.

Social networks can be viewed as graphs in their basic form, but many networks of interest include positive and negative affect relations among nodes. The structural balance theory originally developed by Heider suggests how nodes may locally modify their relationships to maintain a sort of balance within sets of nodes. We analyze a model of leadership emergence in a social network and extend it by introducing structural balance among members when modeling the attitude toward the leader. This approach takes into account some of the mutual relationships among co-workers, including the adaptation process to achieve the balance. This component helps to explore differently the bounded rationality of agents when interacting, and prove the difficulty of finding a rapid and smooth covergent path to a social stable equilibrium.

The fundamental thrust of consistency theories is to enforce equilibrium among one's cognitions. Man seeks haemostatic states among his cognitive elements or avoids conflicting stimuli. He loves the familiar; the unfamiliar is always discomforting and disturbing though common knowledge tells us that actual behaviour turns what seems novel at the pre-decision stage into familiar following series of learning and experience. The Heider's balance theory, Osgood's congruity model and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory are the three popular schools of thought that provide the foundational theories of cognitive consistency This paper critically analyzed and synthesized the major theoretical and empirical body of knowledge of these schools with a view to proffering a tripartite approach (involving the consumers, the organizations and the governments) to solving inconsistency among cognitive elements (e.g.; values, beliefs, knowledge and attitudes). These schools were specifically looked into and assessed in terms of their individual real world application and/or empirical fertility. Each represents an improvement upon the other with Festinger's theory providing the most elaborate perspective of emphasizing on psychological tension and means of achieving consistency within and between the cognitive system and ultimately overt and covert behaviours.

Realists argue that balancing occurs in response to changes to the balance of power. Recent informational approaches have focused primarily on informational asymmetries or commitment problems. The paper combines these two approaches and builds on them by incorporating characteristics of the revisionist state and the potential balancer, as well as the specific challenge to the balance of power. The model confirms that informational asymmetries often lead to commitment problems and that they are a necessary condition for balancing. However, whether or not informational asymmetries create commitment problems depends on both the nature of the challenger's move and the relative power of the challenger and respondent. Finally, the paper shows under what conditions balancing is likely to occur and, counterintuitively, that less revisionist challengers are often more willing to risk being balanced against than are more aggressive challengers.

The fundamental thrust of consistency theories is to enforce equilibrium among one's cognitions. Man seeks haemostatic states among his cognitive elements or avoids conflicting stimuli. He loves the familiar; the unfamiliar is always discomforting and disturbing though common knowledge tells us that actual behaviour turns what seems novel at the pre-decision stage into familiar following series of learning and experience. The Heider's balance theory, Osgood's congruity model and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory are the three popular schools of thought that provide the foundational theories of cognitive consistency This paper critically analyzed and synthesized the major theoretical and empirical body of knowledge of these schools with a view to proffering a tripartite approach (involving the consumers, the organizations and the governments) to solving inconsistency among cognitive elements (e.g.; values, beliefs, knowledge and attitudes). These schools were specifically looked into and assessed in terms of their individual real world application and/or empirical fertility. Each represents an improvement upon the other with Festinger's theory providing the most elaborate perspective of emphasizing on psychological tension and means of achieving consistency within and between the cognitive system and ultimately overt and covert behaviours.

In this paper we problematize the metaphor of balance employed in the area of information privacy. Using Actor-Network Theory we conduct an historical investigation into the continuous release of the same personal data over the course of eight decades. Through the examination of actual enactments of balance over time we find that, in practice, balancing acts are conducted at local levels by local actor-networks within organizations, with limited overall organizational knowledge, raising challenges around interpreting statements made by organizational spokespersons. We also find a surprising lack of knowledge possessed by these local actornetworks about what is subsequently done with personal data and the extent to which networks that extend beyond the organization gravitate towards and form around available data. Through tracing and revealing this historical Actor-Network Theory investigation provides a means of probing and examining actual acts of balance in the area of information privacy and, through revelation, aid in the creation of the possibility of bringing the act of balance more in line with the concept.

The research approach is to examine the controllability of companies that are related to Organisational capabilities. The critical factor here is the dependence of both components on the dynamics of the environment. In a simple context of impact, the dynamics of the Organisational environment determine the controllability of the enterprise in terms of its Organisational capacity for innovation. In the framework of this article, grounded theory approaches will be used to introduce different concepts of balance and innovation and examine their common characteristics or contradictions. The elaborated characteristics serve for the own development of the Balance Theory. The paper describes important basic findings on the equilibrium concept in innovation research. A separate balance theory is developed and integrated into a management concept for sustainable corporate management. As a tool, future decisions for the innovative behaviour of Organisations can be derived.

Networks are finally accepted as a governance structure of their own. They are not a transitory and unstable form, which eventually will become a hierarchy or a market. In fact networks seem to be the most important way to organise economic activity within the framework of globalisation, the knowledge society and the deep technological changes taking place. Networks seem to appear whenever turmoil or even chaos prevails. The Network Theory contests classical undersocialised theories by viewing economic and business activity as socially embedded. Business activity is conducted in a co-operative and trustful atmosphere. Writings on the Network Theory, however, tend to be oversocialised. Economic activity is assumed but not explicitly dealt with. This paper aims to discuss classical economic issues (profit objectives, transaction costs, optimal decision making, uncertainty and risk, innovation etc.) and how the Network Theory accommodates these classical economic and business issues. A...

This dissertation proposes several solutions to the advancement of network analysis theories and methods with specific applications in the domains of social, organizational, and crisis scenarios. The field of network analysis has attracted interest from scholars coming from a wide range of disciplines as it provides valuable theoretical and methodological toolkits to investigate complex systems of social relations, at multiple levels of analysis. In this thesis, I present substantive insights into the application of several network analysis theories and applications to the (1) social, (2) organizational, and (3) crisis response settings. For the context of social interactions, I expand structural balance evaluation to signed and directed networks, and apply this approach to examine 12 social networks. For the context of organizational communication, I demonstrate the application of multilevel modeling for egocentric networks to examine factors associated with the formation of interdisciplinary ties in a scientific organization. In addition, I leverage an extended version of structural balance evaluation for signed and directed networks to examine the sources of tension present in three organizational networks. Third, I provide a case study of response dynamics during the 2010 Haiti earthquake by examining collaboration networks prescribed by national guidelines for response, and interaction networks of the actual collaborations that took place during the earthquake response. The study designs and findings developed in this thesis provide a framework for network-based studies from many domains of interest, that includes components of network theories and methods that can help explain the social mechanisms involved in tie formation.

1,2,3BE Student, Department of Information Technology, MES Pillai College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, India 4Professor, Department of Information Technology, MES Pillai College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract The project helps to recommend product using SBT based recommendation is that due to the sparseness of big rating data in E-commerce, similar friends and similar product items may be absent from the user-product purchase network, which leads for a big challenge to recommend appropriate options to the user. Our system provides user-specific recommendations based on the enemy of an enemy is a friend concept.

Fritz Heider's theory of social perception is reviewed, and the close connection between attribution, balance, and unit relationship are examined, primarily through Heider's own writings. Attribution and balance have historically been considered separate theories, but the authors show how these two ideas, in conjunction with the idea of unit formation, create a broad-ranging and integrated theory of social perception. Attributions were seen by Heider as a particular kind of unit relationship, and people make attributions that preserve an affectively consistent view of others. The authors then show how this integrated understanding of Heider's ideas generates new predictions and informs a wide range of clinical, personality, and social psychological phenomena, as a reminder of the modern power of Heider's theory.

1,2,3BE Student, Department of Information Technology, MES Pillai College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, India 4Professor, Department of Information Technology, MES Pillai College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract The project helps to recommend product using SBT based recommendation is that due to the sparseness of big rating data in E-commerce, similar friends and similar product items may be absent from the user-product purchase network, which leads for a big challenge to recommend appropriate options to the user. Our system provides user-specific recommendations based on the enemy of an enemy is a friend concept.

Structural balance theory assumes triads in networks to gravitate toward stable configurations. The theory has been verified for undirected graphs. Since real-world social networks are often directed, we introduce a novel method for considering both transitivity and sign consistency for calculating balance in signed digraphs. We test our approach on graphs that we constructed by using different methods for identifying edge signs: natural language processing to infer signs from underlying text data, and self-reported survey data. Our results show that for various social contexts and edge sign detection methods, balance is moderately high, ranging from 61% to 96%. This paper makes three contributions: First, we extend the theory of structural balance to include signed digraphs where both transitivity and sign consistency are required and considered for calculating balance in triads with signed and directed edges. This improves the modeling of communication networks and other organizat...

Balance theory explains how network structural configurations relate to tension in social systems, which are commonly modeled as static undirected signed graphs. We expand this modeling approach by incorporating directionality of edges and considering three levels of analysis for balance assessment: triads, subgroups, and the whole network. For triad-level balance, we develop a new measure by utilizing semicycles that satisfy the condition of transitivity. For subgroup-level balance, we propose measures of cohesiveness (intra-group solidarity) and divisiveness (inter-group antagonism) to capture balance within and among subgroups. For network-level balance, we re-purpose the normalized line index to incorporate directionality and assess balance based on the proportion of edges whose position suits balance. Through comprehensive computational analyses, we quantify, analyze, and compare patterns of social structure in triads, subgroups, and the whole network across a range of social s...

This paper studies the signed networks in the presence of stubborn links, based on the structural balance theory. Each agent in the network has a mixture of positive and negative links represent friendly and antagonistic interactions and his stubbornness about interactions. Structural balance theory affirms that in signed social networks with simultaneous friendly/hostile interactions, there is a general tendency of evolving over time to reduce the tensions. From this perspective, individuals iteratively invert their own sentiments to reduce the felt tensions induced by imbalance. In this paper, we investigate the consequences of the agents' stubbornness on their interactions. We define stubbornness as an extreme antagonistic interaction which is resistant to change. In the current paper, we investigated if the presence of stubborn links renders an impact on the balance state of the network and whether or not the degree of balance in a signed network depends on the location of s...

Structural balance theory affirms that in signed social networks with simultaneous friendly/hostile interactions, there is a general tendency of evolving to reduce the tensions. From this perspective, individuals iteratively invert their sentiments to reduce the felt tensions induced by imbalance. Each agent in a signed network has a mixture of positive and negative links representing friendly or antagonistic interactions and his stubbornness about interactions. We define stubbornness as an extreme antagonistic interaction that is resistant to change. In the current paper, we investigate if the presence of stubborn links renders an impact on the balanced state of the network and whether or not the degree of balance in a signed network depends on the location of stubborn links. Our results show that a poorly balanced configuration consists of multiple antagonistic groups. Both analytical and simulation results demonstrate that the global level of balance of the network is more influenced by the locations of stubborn links in the resulting network topology than by the fraction of stubborn links. This means that even with a large fraction of stubborn links the network would evolve towards a balanced state. On the other hand, if a small fraction of stubborn links are clustered in five stubborn communities, the network evolves into an unbalanced state.

It is common among users to have multiple computing devices as well as to access their files or do work at different locations. To achieve file consistency as well as mobility in this scenario, an efficient approach for workspace synchronization should be used. However, file synchronization alone cannot guarantee the mobility of work environment which allows activities to be resumed at any place and time. This paper proposes a ubiquitous synchronization approach which provides cloud-based access to a user's workspace. Efficient synchronization is achieved by combining session monitoring with file system management. Experimental results show that the proposed mechanism outperforms Cloud Master-replica Synchronization in terms of number of I/O operations, CPU utilization, as well as the average and maximum latencies in responding to client requests.

Apology is an important area of research in crisis communication. Scholars have largely explored apology from an organization-centric, dyadic approach. We argue that this type of research has made unrealistic assumptions about a much more complex social system and may be challenged by increasingly interconnected social reality. This paper uses Structural Balance Theory and Stakeholder Network Management Theory to develop a model and several testable propositions to guide the way organizations respond to a crisis.

This study examined the impact of gender on the propensity to trust, responses to the violation of trust and apologies, and the pace of subsequent trust restoration. It was hypothesized that women would respond more positively to an apology but restore their trust at a slower pace than men. Results revealed no gender differences in level of trust immediately after an apology for trust violation, but there was a significant difference in the pace of trust restoration, with women returning to their pre-violation levels of trust later than men as hypothesized. There were also significant gender differences in levels of trust before trust violation and after an apology.

Drawing on balance theory and power-dependence theory, this study explains how and when incongruence among leader-member exchange (LMX), team member exchange (TMX), and leader-teammates exchange (LTX) influence focal employees' feedback seeking behavior (FSB), which in turn affects their job performance. We conducted a moderated polynomial regression analysis of three-wave multi-source data from 147 team members and their leaders (from 45 work teams). The results revealed that, when leader-teammates relationship quality is high, LMX-TMX incongruence facilitates FSB. However, when leader-teammates relationship quality is low, LMX-TMX incongruence reduces FSB. Similarly, when there is a high level of task interdependence, LMX-TMX incongruence facilitates FSB. When there is a low level of task interdependence, LMX-TMX incongruence reduces FSB. We also found an asymmetrical incongruence effect that individuals are more likely to seek feedback when LMX is worse than TMX, as compared with when LMX is better than TMX. This differential effect is strengthened by high LTX quality and high task interdependence. Finally, the interplay of LMX, TMX, LTX, and task interdependence has an indirect effect on job performance (via FSB).

TV dramas constitute an important part of the entertainment industry, with popular shows attracting millions of viewers and resulting in significant revenues. Finding a way to explore formally the social dynamics underpinning these show has therefore important implications, as it would allow us not only to understand which features are most likely to be associated with the popularity of a show, but also to explore the extent to which such fictional world have social interactions comparable with the real world. To begin tackling this question, we employed network analysis to systematically and quantitatively explore how the interactions between noble houses of the fantasy drama TV series Game of Thrones change as the show progresses. Our analysis discloses the invisible threads that connected different houses and shows how tension across the houses, as measure via structural balance, changes over time. To boost the impact of our analysis, we further extended our analysis to explore h...

Structural balance theory is a foundational theory of social network research. Despite enduring interest in seeking network evidence for the theory, the fundamental question of why people care about structural (im) balance has received relatively little attention. The original answer to the question, dating back to Heider's work six decades ago, is that structural imbalance causes a person to experience cognitive dissonance and sentimental disturbance. In this paper, we used a state-of-the-art neuroimaging technique to test the argument. Our study shows that individuals' psychological states, evidenced by the activation of brain areas, are different when they are situated in unbalanced rather than balanced triads. More specifically, the differences in the brain activation between triadic imbalance and balance were found in brain regions known for processing cognitive dissonance, as discovered by previous research. Our study provides novel brain evidence in support of Heider's original account for the psychological and biological foundations of structural balance theory in the formation of social networks.

The growing trend of online travel communities connects travelers worldwide. This study addresses whether or not these relationships lead to offline interactions. The theoretical framework reflects cue utilization theory, social balance theory, and uncertainty reduction theory. A field experiment examines responses from 293 travel community members. Results show individual reputation, online communication, and perceived similarity among travelers play significant roles in offline relationships. Trust and sympathy among community members mediate this decision process. Study results offer several managerial implications and highlight the importance of vivid and complete participation profile in social media. Moreover, finding the right tone for effective communication in online communities is critical. Published by Elsevier Inc. The proposed framework builds on various theoretical approaches. According to the Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975), individuals follow risk-reducing steps in uncertain situations. Arguably, meeting a stranger online is such an uncertain situation. According to cue utilization theory, specific information serves as a proxy for other attributes (Olsen, 1977). Accessing online communities, individuals look for informational cues to make their decisions. Finally, Heider's (1946) Balance theory implies that individuals try to avoid imbalanced situations. Two people's views differing significantly cause imbalance and create anxiety. A field experiment with 293 CouchSurfing members tests the hypotheses. Results show that the community reputation, online communication behavior, and perceived similarities among travelers play significant roles building potential offline relationships. Trust and sympathy between members also mediate this process. The present study contributes to online community research by explaining the transformation process, from online to offline relationships, in a global travel community. This study provides insights into how to build relationships through online communities that can lead to offline interactions (e.g., location, or event visit). These insights help practitioners to use global online communities more effectively. 2. Research background 2.1. Online community relationships Prior research identifies several motives for community engagement. Findings suggest that social connections (i.e., keeping in touch with friends) and information sharing (e.g., events or gossip) are central reasons for online community engagement (

The dynamics of networks on Heider's balance theory moves toward reducing the tension by constantly reevaluating the interactions to achieve a state of balance. Conflict of interest, however, is inherent in most complex systems; frequently, there are multiple ideals or states of balance and moving towards one could work against another. In this work, by introducing the competitive balance theory, we study the evolution of balance in the presence of conflicts of interest. In our model, the assumption is different states of balance compete in the evolution process to dominate the system. We ask, whether, through these interactions, different states of balance compete to prevail their own ideals or a set of co-existing ideals in a balanced condition is a possible outcome. The results show that although there is a symmetry in the type of balance, the system evolves either towards a symmetry breaking where one of the states of balance dominate the system, while the non-dominant part maintains a marginal presence. However, the tolerance of the dominant type with respect to the marginal type depends on the size of network.