Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'STRONG TIES VS. WEAK TIES'

The role of social networking has widely been embraced in an entrepreneurial context due to its nature of providing easy access to information, support and other complementary resources needed for the creation and development of entrepreneurial venture (Omta et al., 2001; Johannisson,1990 cited in Song et al., 2017). The entrepreneurs’ network is affiliated with the study of social relations that can influence the creation and development of new business by shedding light on the functionality of social ties in the diffusion of resources that are vital for the establishment of firms (Greve, 1995). Therefore, studying the field of entrepreneurship in the context of social network can offer a fruitful perspective on entrepreneurship (Greve, 1995).Despite the vast and diverse research in the field of networking and entrepreneurship, there are still some gaps concerning what is actually going on in a network and the understanding about network operation, their nature and role in influencing business performance still limited to fairly broader and theoretical perspective (Jack, 2005). So, in line with these views, the purpose of this study is to explore and enhance the understanding of the networking in an entrepreneurial context by shedding light on the role of strong and weak social ties. The foundation of this study relies on Granovetter’s (1973, 1985) strong and weak tie hypothesis and Jack (2005) work, that by highlighting the characteristics, formation, and outcome of strong and weak social relationships contribute to building the concept of entrepreneur’s social network.A multiple case study of five entrepreneurs, operating their networks and businesses in Linköping, Sweden, has been conducted to achieve the purpose of this study. This research work uses a qualitative approach and is based on the semi-structured interviews, which allows a deeper insight into the studied area through analysis of multiple cases.The result of this study indicates that both the strong and weak social ties, in which an entrepreneur is bonded, are used to a varying level in terms of information flow. Strong relationships, that relies on frequent interaction, hold great importance in providing quality information as compared to weak relationships but simultaneously accountable for providing information that is useless and not up-to date. On, the other hand weak-ties contacts are dispersed in a social network and rarely interact with each other. But these weak connections are also important and play their role once get activated by entrepreneurs. Considering the information flow weaker relationships also occurred to be useful however the relatively small size of the town can mean that similar information is repeated by several connections. Since, the aspect of individual knowledge and experience help in the formation of new relationships but the result of this study highlights that, a personal motivation and drive towards networking also plays a crucial role in the formation of both strong and weak ties.The study findings can benefit the researchers and the entrepreneurs in developing their knowledge about networking and role of social ties in providing access to information and resources necessary for the creation and the development of venture. However, the strong connections hold a dominant position concerning the information and the resource flow but weak connections are also crucial and provide support in areas that strong connections lack. Thus, the entrepreneur that keeps the balance between both his/her strong and weak connections can efficiently reap the benefit of social networking.

This paper starts where previous research in this scientific field, research about individuals who managed to end their criminal lifestyle, ends – by talking in terms of Pierre Bourdieu’s forms of capital. In former studies the researchers pointed out access to a job and parenting as helpful factors to end a criminal lifestyle. Our purpose with this paper, however, was to find out if it is possible to understand criminals successfully ending their criminal lifestyle from Bourdieu’s capital metaphors and Mark Granovetter’s concept of strong and weak ties. The empirical data consists of interviews with a life story perspective by eight members of an organization called KRIS (Criminals Return Into Society). All the interviewees included in this study have managed to end their respective criminal lifestyle. The results indicate that our interviewees had help in their ending of the criminal lifestyle by access to or by establishing social capital. The social capital in the interviewees’ cases were constituted by on one hand strong ties, on the other hand weak ties. In a couple of cases both types of ties were involved. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the social capital itself cannot make an ending of the criminal lifestyle possible. The following factors in the individual’s life has to be fulfilled in order to end his or hers criminal lifestyle: (1) exhort a strong motive inside him-/herself, (2) accept no drug use of any kind and (3) carry through a switch of field from the criminal society to the conventional.

The presence of both narcissism and social capital in the digital social networking site Facebook is altering the dynamic of relationship development. Therefore, the central research question directing this study is as follows: What role do narcissistic personality traits play in bridging social capital on Facebook? From this, two sub-questions are raised: 1) What are the motives for users to express narcissistic traits through Facebook? 2) How is narcissistic-motivated activity influencing social capital development through Facebook? Guiding this thesis are concepts of social tie relationships (as they apply to narcissism), and digital social networks. An exploratory study of in-depth interviews was utilized to conduct such research. A key objective in this thesis is understanding motive and purpose for generating social capital in an online environment. The findings from this study suggest Facebook is a facilitator for the expression of narcissistic traits. As a result, this is influencing the disconnected and questionable value of digital social capital.

The purpose of the following essay is to study and explain how young adults use their social networks when it comes to finding a job. This study was conducted using nine semi-structured interviews with young adults with some form of employment. We used Granovetter’s theory about strong and weak ties, Bourdieu’s capital theory, Lin’s social reources theory and Putnam’s reasoning about generalized reciprocity. The result shows that social capital is a decisive factor in how young individuals use their social contacts. The volume of social capital is determined by economic resources, social background and the size of the social network. Less resourceful groups have a tendency to take advantage of the strong ties, i.e. family and relatives, often when looking for their first job. The weak ties, i.e. acquaintances, are used later in life when the individual has greater resources and networks. Individuals from the privileged groups may not always be able to work on their parents’ company as a first job, because they might require certain qualifications to do so. However, these job positions become possible for the young individuals from resourceful groups when they accomplish a relevant education. That's when they get the chance to use the resources that are embedded in their strong ties.

Bakgrund: 2010 presenterade SCB en undersökning om hur 403 000 jobb tillsattes (GP 2010). 79 000 av dessa tjänster tillsattes via personliga kontakter och ytterligare 100 000 där arbetsgivaren själv kontaktade den arbetssökande. Denna trend i användandet av det sociala kontaktnätet får stöd av Lena Hensvik, doktorand i nationalekonomi, i tidskriften Framtider (2012). Hon skriver att den sociala omgivningen såsom grannar, skolkamrater, tidigare kollegor och föräldrar har stor betydelse för hur vi får anställning eller inte. Hon menar att kontaktnätet är en viktig självinvestering då vårdandet av ens nätverk uppenbarligen kan underlätta jobbsökandet. Hensvik (2012) fortsätter skriva att det i dagens samhälle inte bara handlar om vem du är utan även vem du känner. Syfte: Tidigare forskning berättar att personliga kontakter är en av de faktorer som ökar anställningsbarheten. Vi vill därför ta vid där tidigare forskning slutar och göra en mer inriktad studie där vi fokuserar på personliga kontakter och kartlägger dess effekt i praktiken. Vi ämnar därför förklara personliga kontakters betydelse i samband med nyanställning av civilekonomer med examen från 2007-2012. Metod: Vi har valt att genomföra vår studie med en kvantitativ undersökningsdesign och ett deduktivt synsätt på relationen teori och forskning. Empiriska data har insamlats genom enkätundersökning. Slutsats: Vår slutsats är att personliga kontakter är användbara för civilekonomer i anställningsprocessen, att kontakterna till 90,4% leder dem till minst intervju och att kontakterna inte nödvändigtvis är de som är definierade som svaga, se Granovetters (1973, 1975) teorier om The Strength of Weak Ties.
Background: In 2010 SCB presented a survey of how 403 000 jobs were added (GP 2010). 79 000 of these were added through social contacts and another 100 000 by the employer himself who contacted the unemployed. This trend of using social contacts in the job-seeking process gets support by Hensvik, doctor in economics. In the magazine Framtider (2012) she writes that the social environment such as neighbours, class mates, former colleagues and parents have a big impact if we get an employment or not. Hensvik (2012) says that the caring of ones contacts is an important self-investment that improves your probabilities of getting an employment. She continues writing that in today’s society it’s not only important who you are but also who you know. Purpose: Previous research tells that social contacts are one of the factors that will improve your probabilities of getting employed. We will continue where previous research tends to end and aim for a more focused study where we measure the effects of using contacts in reality. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the contacts’ importance when employing former students with a Degree of Master of Science in Business and Economics. Method: We have conducted a questionnaire survey that was sent out to eight Swedish universities resulting in 100 responses. Conclusion: We have come to the conclusion that social contacts contribute in the recruitment process of former business students, that the use of contacts in 90,4% will get you far in the job-seeking process and that the helpful contacts are not necessarily the ones defined as weak ties, of which Granovetter (1973, 1975) would have argued.

This study investigates the impact of an online communityâ s control structure on the knowledge sharing process in that community. Using a framework comprised of legitimate peripheral participation theory and the weak-ties phenomenon, the study focuses on a comparative analysis of self-organizing online communities (e.g., weblog networks) and centralized online communities (e.g., discussion forums communities) with respect to the efficacy of knowledge sharing in these communities. The findings of this study indicate that self-organizing communities of practice have more weak-ties among their members compared to centralized communities. As per weak-ties theory of Granovetter (1973, 1983), these findings suggest that self-organizing communities facilitate greater dissemination of knowledge and flow of information among their members than centralized communities. The abundance of weak-ties in their community structure also makes self-organizing communities better environments for the discovery of new information compared to centralized community environments. This study did not find any evidence of community structure impact on peripheral participation and the interaction activity level among peripheral participants of a given online community. These observations may have stemmed from the limitations of research design, however, it is safe to say as of now that verdict on peripheral participation differences in different community structures is inconclusive at best.
Master of Science

Hållbarhet är ett ämne som konstant är på dagens agenda. Många länder gör idag omställningar föratt nå de uppsatta klimatmålen inom FN, EU och på en nationell nivå. Gotland Grönt Centrum är enaktör på Gotland som genom sitt projekt “Ökad livsmedelsförädling” drar sitt strå till stacken för att ökaden hållbara utvecklingen på ön. Gotland Grönt Centrum vill öka kunskapsspridningen ochinnovationsgraden inom den gotländska livsmedelsförädlingsindustrin genom att upprätta enFacebooksida där aktörer kan mötas. Forskningsfrågan för uppsatsen är därför fokuserad på hurkommunikationen bör se ut för att nå de uppsatta målen i GGC:s projekt. Genom en kvalitativ studieämnar denna uppsats besvara forskningsfrågan genom teorier om social network theory,sensemaking, strukturella hål med flera för att sedan mynna ut i en slutsats. Genom en kodning avempirin kunde analysen visa flera aspekter som är vitala för att GGC ska kunna föra en framgångsrikkommunikation för att nå sina mål. Svaret blev att genom att arbeta med sensemaking för att formasitt budskap efter målgruppen kan engagemanget gentemot projektet öka. Detta kan leda till eninstitutionalisering och gemensam förståelse, vilket kan leda till framtida samarbeten mellan aktörer.Innovationsgraden kan dessutom öka ifall GGC antar en roll som länk och gränsöverskridare inomnätverket för att överbrygga strukturella hål och således få in ny information i flödet.
Sustainability is a topic that is constantly on the agenda of today. Many countries today are makingadjustments to achieve the set climate goals within the UN, the EU and at a national level. GotlandGrönt Centrum is an regional actor on Gotland, which through its project "Increased food processing"aim to increase the sustainable development on the island. Gotland Grönt Centrum wants to increasethe dissemination of knowledge and the degree of innovation within Gotland’s food processingindustry by establishing a platform where players can meet. The research question for the essay istherefore focused on how the communication should be formulated to achieve the set goals in theGGC project. Through a qualitative study, this paper aims to answer the research question throughtheories of social network theory, sensemaking, structural holes, and more, in order to draw aconclusion. Through the coding of the empirical data, the analysis could show several aspects thatare vital for GGC to be able to conduct successful communication in order to achieve its goals. Theanswer was that by working with sensemaking to shape their message according to the target group,the commitment to the project can increase. This can lead to institutionalization and mutualunderstanding, which can lead to future collaboration between actors. The degree of innovation canalso increase if GGC assumes a role as a link and boundary spanner within the network to bridgestructural holes and thus bring in new information in the flow.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
The goal of this thesis was to understand the associative process linking waste pickers to the recyclable material cooperative, seeking to examine the causes and elements that lead to grouping and the types of social interactions ties. The Network Theory, which has the focus of analysis on social relations, helps to understand this dynamic. For this, the homophily and the strength of weak and strong ties theory were the concepts used to answer the guiding question: What are the processes that lead waste pickers to enroll in cooperatives? And the related question: How is characterized the network of waste pickers' in the associative process? The study has a structural approach that used qualitative methods - 'Coding' or grouping data by topic - and quantitative - the software NodeXL Basic - of analysis. In order to choose the precise cases, two criteria of choice were established: origin and the relation with the public initiative. From this, two cooperatives were identified: CooperVida and CooperFlor. The findings indicate that age, education, geographical location, and unemployment were the main elements in CooperVida and CooperFlor that influenced the associative process. These causes of grouping are consequence of the individual characteristics and the context in which the individual is immersed, in that way the associative process is the result of an induced process that can be framed as a structural homophily effect or homophily of status. Nevertheless, the network of relatives and close associates were more used to approach the cooperative, pointing to the strength of strong social ties in the enrolment process. Taking the above, the work done by the waste pickers was recognized as an occupation in the Brazilian labor market. Although it was an achievement for this social segment, the results of this thesis point out that the waste pickers went into the street or to work in the cooperative due to external factors or because of their attributes and not an individual choice (structural homophily effect / status). Moreover, the research findings highlight the importance that strong ties have in associative process and corroborate with the strength of weak and strong ties theory proposed by Granovetter (1983)
O objetivo desta tese foi compreender o processo associativo de vinculação de catadores à cooperativa de materiais recicláveis, buscando examinar as causas que levam ao agrupamento e os tipos de laço das interações. A Teoria de Redes, que tem o foco de análise nas relações sociais, ajuda a compreender essa dinâmica. Para tanto, a homofilia e a força dos laços fracos e fortes foram os conceitos utilizados para responder à questão norteadora: Quais são os processos que levam os catadores se associarem em cooperativas? E a questão associada: Como se caracteriza a rede de relações dos catadores nesse processo associativo? O estudo tem uma abordagem estrutural que utilizou métodos qualitativos - ‘codificação’ ou agrupamento de dados por tema - e quantitativos - o software NodeXL Basic - de análise. Para eleger os casos concretos, estabeleceu-se dois critérios de escolha: origem e a relação com o poder público. A partir disso, duas cooperativas foram identificadas: CooperVida e CooperFlor. Os achados indicam que a idade, a escolaridade, a localização geográfica e o desemprego foram os principais fatores na CooperVida e na CooperFlor que influenciaram o processo associativo. Essas causas de agrupamento são consequência das características do indivíduo e do contexto em que ele está imerso, dessa forma o processo associativo é resultado de um processo induzido que pode ser enquadrado como um efeito homofilico estrutural ou homofilico de status. Por sua vez, a rede de familiares e de pessoas próximas foram mais utilizadas para o acesso à cooperativa, apontando para a força dos laços fortes no processo associativo. Diante do exposto, o trabalho desenvolvido pelos catadores de material reciclável foi reconhecido como uma ocupação no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. Apesar de ter sido uma conquista para esse segmento social, os resultados desta tese apontam que os catadores entraram para a catação na rua ou para trabalhar na cooperativa em decorrência de fatores externos ou em decorrência de seus atributos e não de uma escolha individual (efeito homofílico estrutural/status). Além disso, os achados da pesquisa evidenciam a importância que os laços fortes têm no processo associativo e corroboram com a teoria dos laços fortes e fracos proposto por Granovetter (1983)

On the annexation of Jämtland by Sweden in 1645, Danish clergymen were allowed to remain on condition that they officiated in the Swedish language.

This dissertation investigates the changes in the written language of one of these Danish clergymen and is based on the parish register kept by the Rev. Olof Bertilsson between 1636 and 1668. The premise for this study is that individual variations and alterations in written language do not occur arbitrarily, but display systematisation and express social consensus. The analytical basis for this approach is derived from Alexander Zheltukhin’s work on orthographic code theory and employs concepts used in sociolinguistics, but also borrows ideas from theories of mixed languages and second-language learning.

Between 1636 and 1646 Olof Bertilsson displays a highly stable orthographic code with few variations. Following his attendance at the Riksdag (the Swedish Parlament) in Stockholm in 1647, a distinct change is evident in his orthography. Changes occur quite early in the spelling of some place-names, personal names and important and frequent ecclesiastical terms.

A decisive factor in determining when and how change occurs is his access to examples of Swedish texts. In the last decade of his life, an influx of Swedish clergy, increased contacts with Swedish officials and help from young clergymen with a Swedish education, contribute to a predominance of Swedish forms in Olof Bertilsson’s individual orthographic code.

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The effects of globalization are felt in all countries. Many have socioeconomic scenarios marked by inequality and by indebtedness. In order to liquidate its debts, they capture resources abroad with the issue of the so-called sovereign bonds. The rating agencies are companies that assess risks before the eventual entitling of these titles and issue opinions. Even that they disclose their methodology of evaluation, in fact there is a huge subjective field, which ultimately influence and, often, increasing the domestic interest rate. Although not everyone realizes the size of the social impact of this component, they effectively change the daily reality experienced by citizens. Because of it, we became interested in studying the effects of the impacts caused by risk factors that enter in the economy. For this reason, it was used as a basis a simplified model that simulates an artificial economy, designed to study a network of credit and the effects of fluctuations in interest rates. This model was chosen also for allowing us to capture amplitudes of economic fluctuations in responses to shocks promoted by the insertion of the interest in an evolutionary process. But it was necessary to go beyond. In this study, we propose an extended version of the simplified economic model by inserting a network of consumers with all its amplitude; this is because the previous model was based on the Say law, that starts from the assumptions that all offer generates its own demand. Thus, it does not permit us to investigate the impacts of the interest on the choices made by consumers in their buying process. The Complex System Theory, and all the development that is currently available for computing, among them the modern algorithms with their accuracy and speed, were fundamental to the achievement of the work. We have, also, progressed in the rupture of the traditional economic analyzes characterized by a top-down approach and, through agents models based, we could adopt a bottom-up approach. This was possible with the integration of macro-parameters associated with a micro level of processing. The main conclusion of this work is that the formation of agglomerates (clusters) between businesses, banks and families encourage economic agents. The agents connected by strong ties are benefited to the extent that the asymmetry in the distribution of wealth between firms and households is reduced. On the other hand, the increase in the interest rate leads to a fall in the connections between the agents, causing a dilution of the network and an increase in the asymmetry of the sharing of wealth
cenários socioeconômicos marcados pela desigualdade e pelo endividamento. Para saldarem suas dívidas captam recursos no exterior com a emissão dos chamados títulos soberanos. As agências de rating são empresas que avaliam riscos diante do eventual inadimplemento destes títulos e emitem opiniões. Ainda que divulguem sua metodologia de avaliação, a bem da verdade, existe nela um enorme campo subjetivo, que acaba por influenciar e, não raras vezes, majorar as taxas de juros domésticos. Muito embora nem todos percebam o tamanho do impacto social deste componente, eles efetivamente alteram a realidade vivenciada pelo cidadão em seu dia-a-dia. Assim, interessou-nos estudar os efeitos dos impactos causados pelos fatores de risco que adentram à economia. Para isso, foi utilizado como base um modelo simplificado que simula uma economia artificial, concebido para se estudar uma rede de crédito e os efeitos das flutuações dos juros. Esse modelo foi o escolhido também por permitir capturar as amplitudes das flutuações econômicas em respostas a choques promovidos através da inserção dos juros em um processo evolutivo. Mas foi necessário ir além. Neste trabalho propomos uma versão estendida do modelo econômico simplificado por meio da inserção de uma rede de consumidores com toda a sua amplitude; isto porque o modelo anterior estava baseado na lei de Say, que parte da premissa que toda oferta gera sua demanda. Assim, ele não permite investigar os impactos dos juros sobre as escolhas dos consumidores em seu processo de compra. A teoria dos sistemas complexos e todo o ferramental que atualmente é disponível pela computação, dentre eles os modernos algoritmos com sua precisão e rapidez, foram fundamentais para a consecução do trabalho. Conseguimos, igualmente, avançar na ruptura das análises econômicas tradicionais caracterizadas pela abordagem top down e, por meio de modelos baseados em agentes, pode-se adotar uma abordagem bottom-up. Isto foi possível com as inserções dos macro-parâmetros associados ao processamento a nível micro. A conclusão principal do trabalho é que a formação de aglomerados (clusters) entre empresas, bancos e famílias favorecem os agentes econômicos. Os agentes conectados por laços fortes são beneficiados na medida em que diminui a assimetria na distribuição de riquezas entre firmas e famílias. Por outro lado, o aumento da taxa de juros leva a uma quebra nas conexões entre os agentes, causando a diluição da rede e aumento na assimetria da partilha da riqueza

Limited economic opportunity for many Filipinos has created substantial emigration of the country’s educated work force. The economic opportunities in the United States have attracted Philippine immigrants seeking employment opportunities. Thus, the U.S. now has a substantial foreign-born Filipino population. Although the majority of Philippine immigrants to the U.S. possess bachelor’s degrees or advanced degrees (Allard & Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011; Camarota, 2012; Commission on Filipinos Overseas, 2012), many are underemployed or work in fields relatively unrelated to their education and experience. This thesis examines Philippine college and university graduates’ social networks, educational attainment, degree field, English language proficiency, immigration status, age, and gender, factors which influence and determine Philippine graduates’ employability in the U.S. labour market. The Triangulation Mixed Methods Design also known as the Concurrent Triangulation Design was employed to effectively measure the complex phenomenon of Philippine graduates’ employability by integrating quantitative and qualitative data sets. The null hypotheses for this thesis were rejected exclusive of age and gender differences. Data revealed employability was enhanced when Philippine graduates networked with Weak Ties during initial employment and continued to be advantageous for being adequately employed (i.e. resulted in lower underemployment). However, lower employability and underemployment negatively affected graduates with a bachelor’s degree (particularly a business-related degree), those who were less proficient in English, and those who were Green Card holders. The factors that were influential in the employability of Philippine graduates coincided with the labour market demands of the American employers sampled in this study. The thesis found that the current status of Philippine graduates has improved substantially with a higher percentage of the respondents obtaining jobs commensurate with their educational qualifications as opposed to their initial employment. Philippine graduates with medical technology degrees were particularly successful at obtaining jobs commensurate with their educational qualifications despite relatively few holding advanced degree, but on average this group had resided in the U.S. the longest. Graduates with business-related degrees continued to lag behind those in other degree fields and experienced lower employability and higher underemployment. Despite their initial employment disadvantage, these degree holders were less likely to pursue continuing education or receive additional U.S. school/educational credits. The findings of this thesis provide insight into the employability of Philippine graduates. Because of the sampling restrictions, the findings cannot be extrapolated beyond the scope of this research. These results should only be treated as indicative within the context of this research. However, they provide useful insights for policy-makers, stakeholders and academics in the Philippines.

The purpose of this study is: 1) to explore the ways in which the Internet may affect individuals’ political diversity in different strengths of social relationships; 2) to identify which of strong-tie diversity and weak-tie diversity contributes more to political tolerance; and 3) to investigate the extent to which tolerant people are different from the less tolerant in their participation decisions when exposed to political diversity. In order to examine the contribution of Internet news use to political heterogeneity, the current study examines the moderation of the negative influence of politically selective exposure on the Internet on political diversity in social networks by Internet news use. To identify the better contributor to tolerance, the two diversities are compared. To assess the consequence of exposure to political difference for political participation for tolerant and less tolerant people, the present study examines any moderating effect of tolerance between political network heterogeneity and participation. It also observes the moderating effect in different tie strengths. This study utilizes data obtained from the U.S. Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy (CID) survey conducted by a collaboration of Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University and the European Social Survey. The sample is 1,001 adults aged 18 and over and representative of the contiguous United States. The dataset contains items concerning Internet use, informal social networks, the composition and diversity of ties and associations, democratic values and tolerance under the primary themes of democracy, social capital and civic engagement. The data are analyzed by hierarchical and OLS regression. According to the findings, Internet news use contributes to individuals’ overall political diversity by reducing the negative influence of the selective exposure occurring from online interaction with homogeneous people. When examined in different strengths of interpersonal relationships, selective exposure discourages strong-tie diversity while encouraging weak-tie diversity. Internet news use positively affects strong-tie diversity but had no influence on weak-tie diversity. Weak-tie diversity is found to be a better contributor to political tolerance. Politically tolerant individuals tend to be discouraged for political participation when exposed to difference in their social relationships. Therefore, while political tolerance may increase overall political diversity, it may as well threaten the balance between deliberation and participation. Closer interpersonal associations are not found to reduce the demobilizing effect of exposure to difference for tolerant individuals.
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博士
國立臺灣大學
圖書資訊學研究所
101
In the knowledge economy and the complex environment of rapid change, the constant innovation has become an important survival rule for companies. How to catch the external knowledge has become an important issue, and external knowledge can be acquired from the knowledge flow. In this study, the analyzed periods are distinguished by wafer size in six-inches (1976~1991), eight-inches (1989~1999) and twelve-inches (1997~2011). The methodologies of patentometrics and social network analysis (SNA) are adopted, and research and development (R&D) cooperation and patent citations are treated as the agents for strong ties and weak ties of knowledge spillover. Firstly, the author analyzed the structure characterisitics of knowledge spillover networks and the main companies that utilize the strong and weak ties to spill knowledge. Secondly, The author classified companies into four technological positions: leader, broker, follower, and isolated company. On the other hand, companies were also classified into six roles of the industry value chain: integrated device manufacturer (IDM), IC design, foundry, packaging & testing, equipment, and others. The author analyzed the difference of utilizing the strong and weak tie of knowledge spillover, the difference of targets with which companies spill knowledge, and the the impact of the change of the companies with the technological position on knowledge spillover. Finally, A case analysis of knowledge spillover is addressed for the top IC foundries. The results of this study show that: 1. Knowledge spillover among semiconductor companies occurs broadly through strong ties, while the weak ones of knowledge spillover are mostly used within the company cluster; 2. Technological leaders and IDM are the highly active participants for knowledge spillover; 3. Technological leaders, IDMs, and foundries are the main targets with which companies spill knowledge; 4. Whether semiconductor companies with the technological position change or not, the patent count and the degree of their participation remain similar; 5. The interaction between strong ties and weak ties of knowledge spillover is insignificant during the chip era evolution; 6. There are similar knowledge spillover actions among main IC foundries. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the mainstream of semiconductor technology development could be captured by monitoring the companies that are technological leaders with the role of IDM or foundry. Semiconductor companies could trace the developers of common technology by observing the strong tie network of knowledge spillover, and they could trace the developers of particular technology by observing the weak tie network of knowledge spillover. Semiconductor companies could also measure the similarity between themselves and competitors based on common targets of knowledge spillover. Foundries could develop partnership with IDMs from vertical division of work into horizontal cooperation. Foundries in Taiwan should continue to develop differentiated technologies in order to ensure technical superiority of their R&D alliances.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações.
O objectivo deste estudo visa compreender se os indivíduos com um maior capital psicológico positivo possuem maiores redes sociais, na medida em que indivíduos mais optimistas e mais esperançosos ocupam posições centrais nas suas redes e possuem um maior número de ligações fortes e ligações fracas. Os dados foram obtidos em várias empresas do sector público e privado, tendo sido obtido um total de 113 questionários. Os resultados das análises de regressão efectuadas apontam para modelos estatisticamente significativos que suportam as hipóteses de que os indivíduos mais esperançosos ocupam posições centrais e possuem um maior número de ligações fortes nas suas redes sociais, e de que os indivíduos mais optimistas possuem um maior número de ligações fracas. São discutidas algumas implicações sobre o impacto que estas capacidades psicológicas positivas possam ter na estrutura, em termos da centralidade, e nas conexões, em termos de ligações fortes e fracas, dos indivíduos nas suas redes sociais no local de trabalho.
The purpose of this study aims to understand if individuals with a more positive psychological capital have larger social networks, to the extent that individuals more optimistic and more hopeful occupy central positions in their networks and have the largest number of strong and weak ties. The data were obtained from several companies in the public and private sector, and a total of 113 questionnaires were obtained. The regression test results point to statistically significant models that support the hypothesis that individuals more hopeful occupy central positions and have a greater number of strong ties in their social networks, and that more optimistic individuals have a greater number of weak ties. Some implications of the impact that positive psychological capacities may have in the structure, in terms of centrality and in the connectivity, in terms of strong and weak ties, of individuals in their social networks in the workplace will be discussed.

Magister Artium - MA
Social networking sites are used on a daily basis, to communicate with friends we have known for quite some time as well as make new friends from all over the globe - a global phenomenon. According to Aparicio (2011) the use of social networking sites have given way to a new “social dynamic” where friendships are formed with individuals from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations. Larsen (2007) continues to state that social network sites make for the creation of new friendships and the maintenance of new relationships. Using social networking sites to develop relationships provides us with new social skills, but through constant use of these sites we lose valuable interpersonal skills learnt through the use of face to face interaction (Aparicio, 2011). This thesis investigated the notion of social networking sites, specifically focusing on interpersonal relationships and language use within the networking context. The social networking site in question is that of Twitter, as majority of existing studies in this area focuses on the more popular Facebook. The main objective was to determine whether social networking sites, specifically Twitter, influence the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships and language use. Participants included a group of 11 males and 11 females (22 in total), ranging from the ages of 17 to 33 and from different geographical locations (e.g. United Kingdom, South Africa, Tokyo, and so on). These participants frequently keep in contact with each other. Four ways in which Twitter has been adapted to emulate face to face communication have been found, namely: (1) the use of Paralinguistic and Prosodic Features to imitate speech, (2) Ustream, although not prominent within the data collected, is used to make up for the lack of face to face communication.This, however, is one-way; only one user provides a video link while those communicating with him or her (as there can be more than one) would type messages, (3) as expected a variety of shortenings can be found within the data collected. Shortenings imitate speech among the younger generation, and (4) participants make use of an informal register, as the most common type of relationship found on Twitter is that of friendships. Both strong and weak ties exist in the collected data; with weak ties being the majority. It is possible for weak ties to become strong ties. All online relationships start off as weak and gradually, over time, become strong ties. This is done through establishing trust between participants and communicating on a regular basis. Paolillo (1999) found that online relationships manifests as both weak and strong. However, “online ties are not ‘branded’ as weak ties” and these ties differ in quality; “those who have regular contact have strong ties and those with less frequent contact have weaker ties weak”. Social support is evident in the collected data and possible in online, textbased communication. In is manifested in four types of support, namely: instrumental, emotional, informational, and appraisal. The most common type of support found in the collected data is that of informational support. With regards to support activation strategies, most tweet fall under the ‘ask’ and ‘cry’ types of strategies. Also, considering the amount of emoticons found in the data, little or no emoticons were found in the activation strategies. There are also more indirect support activation strategies as opposed to direct. This could possibly be due to the fact that majority of the ties are ‘in the weak stage’. Textese has not been adapted in anyway; the same elements used by texters and IMers are used by tweeters, such as initialisms, phonetic spellings and contractions. Although present in the Twitter data, elements of textese did not occur as frequently as that found in e.g. Bieswanger’s (2007) and Thurlow’s (2003) studies; however more elements of Twitter language was found. If anything, the characteristics of textese are well-suited for Twitter; as shortened forms of words would make it easier for users to maintain a character count below the imposed limitation and it promotes the idea of writing quick and concise messages instead of filling message space with irrelevant content. With regards to the difference in the way male and female participants use language in terms of the linguistic characteristics of textese and the language unique to Twitter and the use of paralinguistic and prosodic features, it can be said that females tend to use these characteristics more than males do.