Dimitris Christopoulos

One of the consequences of climate change is the increase in the frequency and entity of extreme weather events, including floods. Any strategy dealing with the various impacts of climate change must focus not only on mitigation aspects, but also on improving on the level of adaptive capacity. Over the past decades there has been an increase in the frequency and intensity of floods in Europe, a fact which has prompted the European Union (EU) to put forward the Directive 60/2007 (the ‘Floods Directive’), requiring Member States to produce a comprehensive Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP) by 2015. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the implementation of the ‘Floods Directive’ has contributed to the level of adaptive capacity in Austria, a EU member State hosting an important river basin. By relying on the existing literature, the paper first describes the governance system associated with flood risk management in Austria prior to the elaboration of the FRMP. Subsequently, based on collected primary data, the paper studies the governance structure associated with the elaboration of the FRMP in Austria by using descriptive social network analysis (SNA) and discusses the implications in terms of adaptive capacity of flood governance. The elaboration of the FRMP has had the merit of coordinating the pre-existing regional legislation into a coherent national framework, under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. A limited number of other public administration stakeholders act as brokers, but the overall governance structure appears centralized and exhibits low modularity. Such a structure, moreover, is exclusively composed of public administration actors with no de facto participation of other stakeholders (e.g., NGOs and private companies). The incorporation of a wider set of organizations in the earlier phases of the policy cycle is welcomed, in order to make the whole process less technocratic and effectively improve the overall level of adaptive capacity.

Changes to the labour process in the home credit sector have exposed the industry’s agency workforce to increased levels of digital managerial control through the introduction of lending applications and algorithmic decision-making techniques. This article highlights the heterogeneous nature of the impact of digitalisation on the labour process and worker autonomy – specifically, in terms of workers’ engagement in unquantified emotional labour. By considering the limitations of digital control in relation to qualitative elements of the labour process, it becomes evident that emotional labour has the scope to be a source of autonomy for dependent self-employed workers when set against a backdrop of heightened digital control. This article therefore contributes to ongoing labour process debates surrounding digitalisation, quantified workers and digital managerial control.

Centralities are a widely studied phenomenon in network science. In policy networks, central actors are of interest because they are assumed to control information flows, to link opposing coalitions and to directly impact decision-making. First, we study what type of actor (e.g., state authorities or interest groups) is able to occupy central positions in the highly institutionalized context of policy networks. Second, we then ask whether bonding or bridging centralities prove to be more stable over time. Third, we investigate how these types of centrality influence actors’ positions in a network over time. We therefore adopt a longitudinal perspective and run exponential random graph models, including lagged central network positions at t1 as the main independent variable for actors’ activity and popularity at t2. Results confirm that very few actors are able to maintain central positions over time.

This article examines elite interaction and its potential to affect local development. A theoretical discussion sets the stage for a systematic exploration of the social capital of regional elites in a comparative study of 12 European Union regions. The working assumption is that elite social capital and trust between elite groups reflect on the regional development record. A survey of experts captures a number of proxy variables on elite social capital. In a cross-sectional study we observe an association between levels of gross domestic product and the propensity of elites to act in concert. Associations are also evident between concerted action and similarity in attitudes between regional elite actors.

Purpose
Corporate success depends partially on the quality of knowledge accessible to the executive board. One route of access to such knowledge is the appointment of directors who already hold directorships with prominent other corporate actors. Such director appointments provide interlocks to a corporate knowledge ecosystem (Haunschild and Beckman, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to examine how linkages between companies belonging to different sectors impact firm performance and to examine how linkages created by female directors, as opposed to male directors, shape performance.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates the interlocks created between UK FTSE 350 companies from 2010 to 2018. It draws on network analysis to map the roles that male and female directors play in linking firms with varying sector classifications. The paper provides an examination of the impact of these roles on firm performance, through a panel data regression analysis.

Findings
This paper finds that there is an increase of inter-industry brokers over the period, and that men are still dominant in both the network and creating inter-industry ties amongst companies. However, the role of women in establishing these ties appears to be changing, and women are more important when it comes to create inter-industry ties among key economic sectors.

Originality/value
This paper provides a novel approach to examine the interplay between gendered inter (and intra) sectoral linkages and firm performance. It provides an original application of the two-mode brokerage analysis framework proposed in Jasny and Lubell (2015).

Purpose
Corporate success depends partially on the quality of knowledge accessible to the executive board. One route of access to such knowledge is the appointment of directors who already hold directorships with prominent other corporate actors. Such director appointments provide interlocks to a corporate knowledge ecosystem (Haunschild and Beckman, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to examine how linkages between companies belonging to different sectors impact firm performance and to examine how linkages created by female directors, as opposed to male directors, shape performance.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates the interlocks created between UK FTSE 350 companies from 2010 to 2018. It draws on network analysis to map the roles that male and female directors play in linking firms with varying sector classifications. The paper provides an examination of the impact of these roles on firm performance, through a panel data regression analysis.

Findings
This paper finds that there is an increase of inter-industry brokers over the period, and that men are still dominant in both the network and creating inter-industry ties amongst companies. However, the role of women in establishing these ties appears to be changing, and women are more important when it comes to create inter-industry ties among key economic sectors.

Originality/value
This paper provides a novel approach to examine the interplay between gendered inter (and intra) sectoral linkages and firm performance. It provides an original application of the two-mode brokerage analysis framework proposed in Jasny and Lubell (2015).

The analysis of social networks in management and organizations has become mainstream. Research has focused on actors within networks (i.e. nodes) and the relationships between these actors (i.e. ties). The position taken in this paper is that an inter-organisational collaboration is not about merging and creating new organizational settings, and more about restructuring organizational life itself based upon key connections with other economic actors. Instrumental is the notion of brokerage. The public sector as a network broker is assumed to facilitate interactions among economic actors by co-ordinating venues for them to interact. This research explores the role of a public sector organisation in managing and governing such an inter-organisational network. It also explores the concept of network brokerage through the lens of social network analysis. The research presented is a longitudinal case-study of a network of high performing private sector organisations coordinated and facilitated by a public sector broker.

This article attempts to measure the effect of ‘public sector brokerage’ in facilitating the interaction between enterprises in Bristol. In particular we examine the effectiveness of a public sector project through formal social network analysis. The data originates from a publicly funded consulting project measuring interaction between actors as a result of the Science City Bristol Initiative 2008–12. The remit of the project has been to maximise investment, increase public engagement and boost connectivity among key businesses in the region. Bristol is identified as an important cluster for aerospace, IT, finance and creative technologies. To monitor and evaluate connections a network analysis was commissioned at the early stage of the initiative. A core-periphery structure has been identified with key brokerage roles held by public sector agencies - facilitating private gain and presumably an increase of GVA. A number of suggestions in developing this research platform are offered in conclusion. These focus on capturing the evolution of social networks, their effect on the interaction between private and public actors, their impact on entrepreneurship and their effect on the dissemination of innovation.

Policy brokers and policy entrepreneurs are assumed to have a decisive impact on policy outcomes. Their access to social and political resources is contingent on their influence on other agents. In social network analysis (SNA), entrepreneurs are often closely associated with brokers, because both are agents presumed to benefit from bridging structural holes; for example, gaining advantage through occupying a strategic position in relational space. Our aim here is twofold. First, to conceptually and operationally differentiate policy brokers from policy entrepreneurs premised on assumptions in the policy-process literature; and second, via SNA, to use the output of core algorithms in a cross-sectional analysis of political brokerage and political entrepreneurship. We attempt to simplify the use of graph algebra in answering questions relevant to policy analysis by placing each algorithm within its theoretical context. In the methodology employed, we first identify actors and graph their relations of influence within a specific policy event; then we select the most central actors; and compare their rank in a series of statistics that capture different aspects of their network advantage. We examine betweenness centrality, positive and negative Bonacich power, Burt’s effective size and constraint and honest brokerage as paradigmatic. We employ two case studies to demonstrate the advantages and limitations of each algorithm for differentiating between brokers and entrepreneurs: one on Swiss climate policy and one on EU competition and transport policy.

Social entrepreneurs present a contradiction if one accepts that economic motivation is premised on personal gain alone. The economic activity of social entrepreneurs is presumed altruistic, their actions intending to primarily benefit others. The theoretical and actual motivations, social networks and values of these actors are compared in this article. A series of semi-structured interviews of prominent social entrepreneurs in the west of England form the basis of analysis. Subjects were selected through a nomination-referral technique that allows targeting for interview those who are considered prominent in the sector within the chosen location. Two types of analysis are attempted: a narrative exploration of their motivations and a semantic networks analysis of their statements. There is evidence of a conceptual association between those actors’ success, entrepreneurship, motivation and social relations that indicate profitable avenues for future research. Some policy recommendations are offered in the conclusion. The multiple roles of social entrepreneurs and the multiple audiences they address indicate multidimensional agency. The development of the sector depends on comprehending conflict inherent in their multiple agendas.

A consistent problem with key informant, elite and expert interviewing is the representativeness of sample populations. Since studies that employ such techniques depend on a small number of respondents, they are often classed as qualitative. The possibility of going beyond these classic approaches arises by employing methods developed to explore hidden populations in network analysis. These would qualify as descriptive quantitative techniques since we cannot provide a robust measure of reliability. It is the case however, particularly in the investigation of small populations of expert opinion, that we can be confident of surveying a sizable proportion of that population. A case study of such a survey employing Peer Esteem Snowballing (PEST) is offered in
demonstration.

Purpose
The relationship between interlocking directorates and firm performance has been increasingly debated, with a focus on whether firm's centrality in interlock networks is associated with performance. The purpose of this study is to examine not only how a firm's position in this network is associated with performance but also how the performance of network partners can impact a firm's performance. This study examines how firms effectively utilise the interlock network to achieve the goal of higher market capitalisation – termed market capitalisation rank (MCR).

Design/methodology/approach
The premise of the study is the UK FTSE 350 firms from 2014 to 2018. The paper makes use of a temporal network autocorrelation model to examine how firm characteristics, the structural position in the interlock network and the performance of network partners affect MCR over time.

Findings
The analysis indicates that firms with ties (via the interlock network) to firms with high market capitalisation are more likely to enhance their own MCR, highlighting network partners have the opportunity to play a critical role in a firm's dominance strategy to optimise firm value.

Originality/value
The value of this research is that it does not only look at the impact of a firm's position in the network on performance, but the impact of the performance of network partners on a firm's market performance as well.

Keywords

Centralities are a widely studied phenomenon in network science. In policy networks, central actors are of interest because they are assumed to control information flows, to link opposing coalitions and to directly impact decision-making. First, we study what type of actor (e.g., state authorities or interest groups) is able to occupy central positions in the highly institutionalized context of policy networks. Second, we then ask whether bonding or bridging centralities prove to be more stable over time. Third, we investigate how these types of centrality influence actors’ positions in a network over time. We therefore adopt a longitudinal perspective and run exponential random graph models, including lagged central network positions at t1 as the main independent variable for actors’ activity and popularity at t2. Results confirm that very few actors are able to maintain central positions over time.

Flood events have become more frequent in Europe, and the adaptation to the increasing flood risks is needed. The Flood Directive set up a series of measures to increase European resilience, establishing Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) at the level of the river basin district as one relevant action. In order to efficiently fulfil this objective, the involvement of stakeholders as well as the analysis of their roles, responsibilities, and demands has been considered to be crucial to develop FRMPs. As a result, the hypothesis tested in this paper is that a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian Flood Risk Management Plan is feasible. To demonstrate this, both in-depth interviews and questionnaires to key Austrian stakeholders are implemented. The information collected in both participatory techniques are then used to run a conflict prevention analysis. The results show that (a) improving the coordination among regions and including better land-use planning approaches are preferable to a hypothetical business as usual scenario; and (b) a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian FRMP might be achievable on the basis of both a deep discussion on the state-of-the art and green infrastructure development.

Purpose
The paper refers to the drivers of social entrepreneurship and critically explores the notion that it is prompted by a personal mission to enable some social or ideologically motivated altruism. It refers to Shapero's Entrepreneurial Event Theory and the adaptation of it for social entrepreneurship in Mair and Noboa (2006) and develops these so that both agency and context may be considered.

Design/methodology/approach
Fieldwork comprised a qualitative sample of 12 life-story narratives of social entrepreneurs in Central Scotland. The location was chosen because of its reputation for support of social entrepreneurship, and the qualitative methodology allowed for a depth of inspection and analysis of complex and situational experiences.

Findings
Findings include observation of altruism but there are other drivers, including the appeal of the social entrepreneurship business model. Context emerges as a critical feature of social entrepreneurship too, including spurs for altruism and the human, financial and social capitals, skills and experiences of social entrepreneurs.

Originality/value
The paper finds that the social entrepreneurship process involves both agency and context and is complex, and for some, reflects a strategic approach similar to commercial entrepreneurship. The paper also proposes further adaptation to Entrepreneurial Event Theory to capture this complexity of the social entrepreneurship process.

The case: The Scottish referendum for independence from the United Kingdom was held on the 18th of September 2014. What was assumed to be an easy victory for the unionist cause became quite ambivalent on the final weeks of the contest, eventually won by them with a 55% majority. A number of commentators (Cairney and McGarvey, 2013; Keating, 2014; Sharp et. al, 2014) viewed this period to be a critical time for Scottish devolution, even before there was any indication that the status quo may be upset. The data & analysis: From the Twitter Decahose (a random 10% sample of all Tweets), we collected ~900,000 Tweets containing the hashtag “#indyref” from ~175,000 users in the time period of Jan 1, 2013 to Sep 30, 2014. We focus our analysis on networks constructed from Twitter users mentioning other users in their Tweets. These communication networks show a low level of reciprocity indicating a high level of users talking “to” instead of “whith” each other. Based on the dominant use of hashtags from the yes/no campaigns we classify users into these two groups and reveal that most reciprocal interaction happens within the two groups. However, we also find “activists” predominantly interacting with different-minded users. In an overtime analysis we study the change in networks as the two campaigns unfold and we also use real world events (e.g. publication of polls) and show their impact on the Twitter networks.

How can we distinguish between political brokers and political entrepreneurs within political space? Examining the role of individual agents, we can identify a number of definitional weaknesses in the entrepreneurship and leadership literature. This leads us to consider the agency determinants of broadly defined exceptional actors. We argue that accounts of exceptional agency have to incorporate information on the psychology, behaviour and relational environment of actors. However, we recognise that collecting complete data on agents is most often not feasible. Since relational data strongly reflect the choices and behaviour actors have been making we concentrate here on the distinction between brokers and entrepreneurs in relational space. Within relational social science however, brokerage has been often confounded with entrepreneurship. Our aim here is to decouple the underlying assumptions and operationalise this distinction in Social Network Analysis (SNA).

Using Social Network Analysis, this article illuminates the relationship between the Islamists and rebels involved in the Malian conflict. We use publicly available data to demonstrate that the connection between Islamists and rebels depends on brokers who defected from the Tuareg rebellion to radical groups. Our work also details the internal relationships within each of the subgroups. By using descriptive network analysis, we are able to show that both groups were affected by the accidental disappearance of one of the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emirs, and the death of one of the architects of the Tuareg rebellion. Both events affected social cohesion. The article concludes with a discussion of the influence that the French-backed intervention may have on the evolution of the conflict, and how network analysis could contribute to a better understanding of terrorist activities in the region.

The present paper examines the importance of integrating geographic contextual effects into the analysis of social networks. By considering spatial structures as both produced by and productive of social relations, geographic space seems to be more than the extent on which places, actors or events are located and separated by distance. Territoriality, bordering processes, the sense of place, spatial inequalities, scalar relations and spatial connectivity are among the socio-spatial arrangements and practices that are likely to affect social action. The present empirical analysis thus focuses on policy interactions within the cross-border region of Lille because the spatial dimension particularly influences relations in this area. Specifically, we examine three spatial effects, namely, distance, territorial borders and cross-border territoriality, and we use exponential random graph models to model how these contextual variables influence policy interactions. By addressing multiple spatial effects, we develop a specific approach to control for the interactions that occur between these variables in order to elaborate on the complex processes that lead to the formation of social networks. We also explicitly examine how the spatial interaction function is affected by including in the analysis endogenous network effects, exogenous covariates and border factors. In this regard, we use a novel Monte Carlo-based goodness-of-fit summary in order to demonstrate that the predicted spatial interaction function of our model – net of other effects – matches the empirical spatial interaction function.

This article contributes to our understanding of the formation of policy networks. Research suggests that organisations collaborate with those that are perceived to be influential in order to access scarce political resources. Other studies show that organisations prefer to interact with those that share core policy beliefs on the basis of trust. This article seeks to develop new analytical tools for testing these alternative hypotheses. First, it measures whether perceptions of reputational leadership affect the likelihood of an organisation being the target or instigator of collaboration with others. Second, it tests whether the degree of preference similarity between two organisations makes them more or less likely to collaborate. The article adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining exponential random graph models (ERGM) with qualitative interviews, to analyse and explain organisational collaboration around United Kingdom banking reform. It is found that reputational leadership and preference similarity exert a strong, positive and complementary effect on network formation. In particular, leadership is significant whether this is measured as an organisational attribute or as an individually held perception. Evidence is also found of closed or clique-like network structures, and heterophily effects based on organisational type. These results offer significant new insights into the formation of policy networks in the banking sector and the drivers of collaboration between financial organisations.

Dominant streams in leadership literature conceptualise it either as a role within sociopolitical structure or as a behavioural predisposition of agents. Leadership roles are determined by decisional power, most typically related to the hierarchical and structural position of agents within sociopolitical networks. Limitations in attaining meaningful predictions of leader potential can be related to the separation of leadership as an agency attribute from leaders as structurally embedded agents. Social network analysis allows for the contingent examination of both. In this article, a number of hypotheses are tested via an empirical case study where interaction and affiliation networks across multiple decision experiments are coupled with attribute and psychometric data of the actors. In this quasi-experimental setting, leadership emergence is studied among four groups of undergraduate students faced with a decision choice in an iterative political simulation game. Findings suggest that in egalitarian political systems, centrality in social networks is directly associated with political success, while in political systems imbued with power inequalities successful actors are idiocentric brokers. Methodologically, this study frames role simulation games as quasi-experimental tests. Group interactions can be controlled, but vitally also incorporated in studies of perceptions, behaviours and group outcomes. The use of attitudinal micro-surveys, psychometric tests, observation and relational surveys is combined for a comprehensive mapping of group dynamics suited to questions of agency. In conclusion, there are a number of insights offered on deploying these methods in tandem and the challenges inherent in such a research design.

The ongoing financial turmoil has brought into sharp relief the importance of financial services regulation. Yet, we still know relatively little about how financial regulation is negotiated within the EU, in particular which policy actors are most influential and what are the mechanisms that allow them to exercise influence. This paper addresses these questions using Social Network Analysis (SNA), focusing on the banking regulation network and one core piece of legislation: the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD). Of particular interest is the flow of influence among the key actors. Triangulating an in-depth case study with qualitative interview data and social network analysis, this work investigates a number of hypotheses, associating brokerage roles and extroversion with relative influence in the policy making process. We find that influential actors are those that hold key structural positions in this network and by implication appear to have a better understanding of network topography.