Structural holes
This mini course proposes an introduction to network theory and its most relevant applications to communication in the workplace. We will first talk about the notion of betweenness centrality and structural holes. We will review some well-known findings from the sociology literature, e.g., individuals who are essential for group communication perform better than those who are relatively less central. Then, we will ask ourselves how people can form social ties strategically. Based on the findings from sociology, workers who serve the role of intermediaries seem to outperform others. We will review two models (Goyal and Vega-Redondo 2007 (JET) and Kleinberg et al. 2008) where individuals have the incentive to circumvent others’ attempts at mediating connections.