Research on everyday life information seeking has demonstrated that people often relied on other people to obtain the information they need. Weak ties (i.e., acquaintances) were found to be particularly instrumental to get new information. This study employed social network analysis to examine the characteristics of the ties through which late adolescents (15-17 years old) discover new music. I...

This article contributes to the literature on network strategies and institutional transitions in emerging economies in Asia by identifying a realistic, intermediate phase between the early and late phases of institutional transitions suggested by Peng (2003). Focusing on the intermediate phase, we advance two arguments based on network strength and network content. First, in terms of network s...

U the determinants of creativity at the individual and organizational level has been the focus of a long history of research in various disciplines from the social sciences, but little attention has been devoted to studying creativity at the dyadic level. Why are some dyadic interactions more likely than others to trigger the generation of novel and useful ideas in organizations? As dyads condu...

Previous research has shown that spending money on others (prosocial spending) increases happiness. But, do the happiness gains depend on who the money is spent on? Sociologists have distinguished between strong ties with close friends and family and weak ties--relationships characterized by less frequent contact, lower emotional intensity, and limited intimacy. We randomly assigned participant...

Against the background of the changing relationships between trade unions and political parties in Western Europe, this paper examines the nature and outcomes of union–party alliances in East Central Europe. The paper advances two interrelated arguments. First, the nature of union–party ties in postcommunism is significantly different and can be best described as an inverse dependency relations...

BACKGROUND Increasing attention has been given to the transparency of potential conflicts of interest in clinical medicine and biomedical sciences, particularly in journal publishing and science advisory panels. The authors examined the degree and type of financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry of panel members responsible for revisions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental D...

Building on two established perspectives on the political party, in this paper we view the party as an organized network of formal and informal relationships between individuals that reflects national cleavages. We test this interpretation using two Italian parties of the 1970s that played major roles in shaping political and social life of the country: the Christian Democrats, or DC, and the C...

We combine data from the Latin American Migration Project and the Mexican Migration Project to estimate models predicting the likelihood of taking of first and later trips to the United States from five nations: Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Peru. The models test specific hypotheses about the effects of social capital on international migration and how these effects...

We study the role of the most primitive institution in society: the family. Its organization and relationship between generations shape values formation, economic outcomes, and influences national institutions. We use a measure of family ties, constructed from the World Values Survey, to review and extend the literature on the effect of family ties on economic behavior and economic attitudes. W...

In this paper, we argue that WhatsApp can play an important role in correcting misinformation. We show how specific affordances (flexibility format and audience selection) existing social capital (prevalence of strong ties; homophily political groups) be leveraged to maximize the re-sharing debunking messages, such as those accessed by users via ChatBots Tip-Lines. Debunking messages received a...