Professional Documents
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1. Introduction
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the nature of scientific collaboration.
Collaboration between researchers play an important role in scientific development in
general and consequently, numerous studies have showed an increase in the number of
co-authored research papers (Laband and Tollison, 2000; Moody, 2004). Members of
social institutions of science over a broad range of disciplines co-author research papers
together creating social networks of researchers. These social networks play a crucial
role in scientific growth as they work to share and generate new knowledge through
social interaction (Crane, 1972). The manner in which authors influence each other
when collaborating on joint publications is important in the process of producing
knowledge (Bourdieu, 2005).
Social Network Analysis provides a mean for interpreting and measuring relationships
between a number of social entities, such as people, groups and organisations. The
emphasis on relationships is an important supplement to standard social and behavioural
research, which is mainly concerned with attributes of the social entities (Wasserman
and Faust, 1994). In Social Network Analysis the attributes of the individual actors are
not essential, the focus is on the structure of their relationships and how the structure of
linkages affect individual actors and their relationships. The structure of a network
provides insights into network activities and how knowledge is generated and shared
within the network.
An efficient way for scientific researchers to exchange and bring forth knowledge is
through collaboration in specialist organisations such as the European Marketing
Academy. The structure in networks like this is often hidden because of its informal
network characteristics.
To date little attention has been paid to the application of Social Network Analysis in a
conference setting. The objective of the study at hand is to employ Social Network
Analysis to analyse the research collaboration within a specific academic group over
time, namely the European Marketing Academy. It should be seen as a contribution to
the existing literature in the field of Social Network Analysis as it provides a review of
previous literature relating Social Network Analysis and co-authorship. Furthermore, it
1.2 Structure
In order to give a background for the current study, the section Background will
provide a description of the concept of Social Network Analysis and give an
introduction to the European Marketing Academy. The literature review will then
review previous literature linking Social Network Analysis and co-authorship,
presenting the main findings of these studies. This is followed by the methodology
section, which explains the methods applied, the unit of analysis and the constructs
utilised in Social Network Analysis. The section then continues with a description of
how the data set was constructed and finishes with a detailed desription of the measures
employed in Social Network Analysis. The results section will present the findings of
the study. This section is followed by a discussion of the results.The study at hand will
then review the limitations and give suggestions for further research in the field. The
study will conclude with an assessment of the main findings.
2. Background
2.1 Social Network Analysis
Social Network Analysis concerns the comprehension of the connections among social
actors and the consequences of these connections. It reveals a structure of linkages,
within which actors are embedded. Actors are described by their relations, not by their
attributes and the relations are just as fundamental as the actors that they connect. As a
tool Social Network Analysis has its roots in the social sciences. The central concepts of
relation, network and structure originates from a number of disciplines within the social
sciences such as sociology and anthropology. Social Network Analysis has gained wide
use in disciplines as diverse as economics, marketing and industrial engineering. This
can, in part, be ascribed to the fact that Social Network Analysis provides insight into
aspects of the political, economic and social structural environment (Wasserman and
Faust, 1994).
3. Literature Review
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on Social Network
Analysis. This large and growing body of literature has, among other things, applied
Social Network Analysis as a tool for conducting citation analyses (see for instance
Zinkhan, Roth and Saxton, 1992 and Carter, Leuschner and Rogers, 2007). Additionally,
a large volume of published studies employ Social Network Analysis to reveal patterns
and regularities in the way in which scholars work together by focusing on coauthorship in published research papers (e.g. Newman, 2001a; Newman, 2001b;
Barabsi, Jeong, Nda, Ravasz, Schubert and Vicsek, 2002; Liu, Bollen, Nelson and Van
de Sompel, 2005). So far, however, only limited attention has been paid to the
application of Social Network Analysis in a conference setting.
4. Methodology
The present study will follow the methodology used by Vidgen et al. (2007) and
Henneberg et al. (2009) and will analyse the pattern of co-authorship in research papers
presented at the European Marketing Academy annual conferences between 2000 and
10
12
4.2 Measures
A number of social network measures are available for evaluating the characteristics of
a collaboration network. As mentioned above, the linkages in the EMAC data set are
non-directional and valued. These properties will influence the way in which a number
of the measures in Social Network Analysis are defined. The following section will
provide an introduction to the key term components and the measures will then each
be considered in turn.
4.2.1 Components
An important characteristic of a graph is whether it is connected or not. In order for a
graph to be connected a path must exist between all pairs of nodes in the graph. This is,
however, not always the case. Often a graph is partitioned into two or more subsets
where no connection between the subsets exist. These subset are refered to as
components. This means that all actors in a component can reach each other but they
can not reach members of other components in the graph. The main component of a
network is the component with the largest number of connected actors (Wassermann
and Faust, 1994). Many analyses require that all the nodes are connected and it will
therefore in many cases be relevant to extract the main component in order to perform
the analysis on a fully connected network.
13
14
15
16
18
5. Results
20
Year
No. of actors in
network
2000-2010
4043
2640
As shown in Table 1 above more than half of all actors in the EMAC network are in the
main component indicating that researchers tend to collaborate across different
disciplines and topics within the field of marketing.
21
in main
Density
Diameter
of
of
main
main
Table 2 reveals a general increase in the number of actors in the network, i.e. in the
number of researchers participating in the EMAC conferences 2000-2010 with coauthored papers. While the number of actors in the network has displayed a general
increase, the density of the main components has fluctuated over the 11 year period. The
density of a network is zero if no connection is present between any of the nodes in the
network. On the other hand, if every single node is connected to every other node, the
density is one (Henneberg et al., 2009). 2002 represents the year with the best connected
network in the time period as 43.81 % of all possible ties are present. 2010 is the most
sparsely connected network as only 5.41 % of all possible ties are present. The diameter
provides information about how fast information is likely to diffuse throughout a
network. The years 2000 to 2008 all have diameters of 5 or less, this means that these
years display small world properties. On the other hand, the years 2009 and 2010 both
have a diameter of 6 which points to less tightly knit networks.
22
The main component for 2000 is presented in Figure 1. It reveals a somewhat scattered
group of researchers grouped around Grnhaug and Hogg with Bruce occupying a hub
role as he links two subgroups that would otherwise not be connected. The strength of
the ties between the individual researchers shows that the actors in this specific main
component has not co-authored more than one paper with each other.
23
Figure 2 illustrates the main component for 2001. It is slightly more dense than that of
2000 and identifies De Wulf and Odekerken-Schrder as the researchers who the
component is grouped around. Van Kenhove and De Wulf hold hub positions and link
two subgroups to the main component that would otherwise be disconnected. The
majority of the researchers in this specific main component have only co-authored one
research paper with each other, however, De Wulf and Odekerken-Schrder have coauthored three papers together.
The main component for year 2002 is shown in Figure 3 above. It displays a solid
network with a cohesive and robust structure. Blesa represents an outlier as this specific
researcher has only co-authored with one of the actors in the network. Each member has
only written one research paper with every actor he/she is connected to.
24
Figure 4 displays the main component for 2003. It reveals a sparsely connected network
where De Valck takes up a hub role as this specific researcher links the two parts of the
component. Again the number of research papers the members of this component has
produced with actors they are connected to equals one.
25
26
Figure 7 above illustrates the main component for 2006. It presents a rather cohesive
network with a compact center. Mller and Bloemer hold hub positions in the
component as they join two parts of the network to the center of the component that, if
they were not present, would be disconnected from the main component. The majority
27
Figure 9 above shows the main component for 2008. It presents a somewhat cohesive
network where Herrmanan and Tomczak act as hubs in connecting the groups of the
component. Once again the majority of the strength of the ties in the network are equal
to one, except the tie linking Tomczak and Mhlmeier who have collaborated twice in
2008.
Representing the main component for 2009 is Figure 10 below. It reveals a network
which to some degree is scattered. The collaboration between Vlckner, Becker and
Ringle links a small group of researchers to the larger part of the network. Furthermore,
the collaboration between Brito and Carvalho connects another small group of actors to
the more compact part of the network. All actors in 2009 have only co-authored one
28
29
Affiliation key:
Ghent University, Belgium
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Figure 12: Main component for 2001 with affiliation.
Figure 12 above illustrates the main component for 2001 according to affiliation. It can
be seen that the vast majority of the researchers are affiliated with Ghent University in
Beligium pointing to strong geographical clustering within the main component for
2001. Further analysis of the main component for 2001 revealed that although the
30
Track key:
Relationship Marketing
Consumer Behaviour
Retailing, Channel Management and Logistics
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Figure 13: Main component for 2001 according to track.
31
Actor
Actor
Actor
Actor
Neighbourhood degree closeness betweenness
size
centrality centrality
centrality
De Wulf
7
8
76.923
Van Kenhove
6
6
71.429
Odekerken-Schrder
5
6
66.667
Table 3: Actor centrality measures for the main component of 2001.
21
21
5
Table 4 below provides additional centrality measures for the main component of 2001.
The eigenvector centrality measure locates De Wulf to be a central actor within the
network as this actor is connected to many other actors who, in turn, are also well
connected. A somewhat surprising finding is that Odekerken-Schrder has a higher
score than Van Kenhove in this measure. However, when examining Figure 2 it
becomes evident that the connections of Odekerken-Schrder are better connected than
the actors which Van Kenhove is connected to, hence the higher eigenvector centrality.
De Wulf also holds the highest score on the flow betweenness centrality measure. This
means that the flow in the main component of 2001 would be creatly reduced if this
specific researcher were to leave the network. Van Kenhove is also identified as an actor
with high flow betweenness centrality score. Again an examination of Figure 2 justifies
this high value as it can be seen that Van Kenhove holds a hub position in the network.
The reach centrality measure indicates that the main component for 2001 is rather dense
32
Flow
Reach centrality
Eigenvector betweenness
Structural
centrality
centrality
two-step
three-step
hole
Actor
De Wulf
75.217
47.667
1.00
Van Kenhove
52.360
47.000
1.00
Odekerken-Schrder
69.095
14.667
1.00
Table 4: Additional centrality measures for the main component of 2001.
1.00
1.00
1.00
5.000
4.167
2.667
Component
No. of actors
Density
Diameter
1
11
0.2000
4
2
10
0.1556
3
3
7
0.2679
2
Table 5: Main co-authorship component characteristics for 2001.
33
Affiliation key:
Kingston Business School, England
Casio Electronics Ltd.
University of South Australia, Australia
Massey University, New Zealand
London Business School, England
Figure 14: Second component for 2001 with affiliation.
34
Additional analysis of the second largest component of 2001 shows a minor tendency
towards track-based clustering around East. East is the most active researcher within
this component, having co-authored two papers in one track and one in another track.
These findings are presented in Figure 15 below.
Track key:
Product and Brand Management
Modeling and Forecasting
Consumer Behaviour
Retailing, Channel Management and Logistics
Figure 15: Second component for 2001 according to track.
35
The third component for 2001 with affiliation is displayed in Figure 16 below. It reveals
very strong geographical clustering as all members of the component are affiliated with
the same institution, namely Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Affiliation key:
Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Figure 16: Third component for 2001 with affiliation.
36
Track key:
Marketing Strategy and Leadership
Retailing, Channel Management and Logistics
Consumer Behaviour
Service Marketing
Figure 17: Third component for 2001 according to track.
Figure 17 above, shows the third component for 2001 according to track. The network
does not exhibit track-based clustering as each individual author has only co-authored
one scientific research paper within each track. Papastathopoulou is the most active
node in the component as this specific researcher has collaborated on papers in all four
tracks represented in the component.
37
Affiliation key:
Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
Aston University, England
Budapest University of Economic Science and Public Administration, Hungary
Monash University, Australia
University of Limerick, Ireland
Univerza V Mariboru, Slovenia
City University of Hong Kong
Wielkopolska Business School Pozna University, Poland
ALBA Athens Laboratory of Business Administration, Greece
University of Innsbruck, Germany
Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Wales
University of Wales Aberystwyth, School of Management and Business, Wales
Stern School, NYU, USA
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
University of Otago, New Zealand
38
The main component for 2004 according to affiliation is displayed in Figure 18 above.
It can be seen that a large number of universities and business schools are represented in
the diagram. This indicates very little geographical clustering within the component.
Additional analysis of the main component for 2004 revealed extremely strong trackbased clustering. This is illustrated in Figure 19 below. This result, however, is not
surprising since the majority of the researchers in the main component have
collaborated on one scientific research paper.
39
Actor
Actor
Actor
Actor
Neighbourhood degree closeness betweenness
size
centrality centrality
centrality
Greenley
19
19
82.759
Hooley
19
19
82.759
Mller
19
19
82.759
Table 6: Actor centrality measures for the main component of 2004.
Actor
24
24
24
Flow
Reach centrality
Eigenvector betweenness
Structural
centrality
centrality
two-step
three-step
hole
Greenley
36.752
24
1.00
Hooley
36.752
24
1.00
Mller
36.752
24
1.00
Table 7: Additional centrality measures for the main component of 2004.
1.00
1.00
1.00
6.474
6.474
6.474
Component
No. of actors
Density
Diameter
1
25
0.2292
5
2
18
0.0948
4
3
15
0.1000
2
Table 8: Main co-authorship component characteristics for 2004.
40
Affiliation key:
University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
University of Antwerp, Belgium
University of California, USA
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Portland State University, USA
Free University, Germany
Figure 20: Second component for 2004 with affiliation.
Figure 20 above displays the second component for 2004 with affiliation. It
demonstrates geographical clustering around the University of Maastricht, The
Netherlands, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands and the University
of Antwerp, Belgium, respectively. Three individual researchers from the University of
Maastricht stand out as they each are disconnected from any other researchers from that
institution.
41
Track key:
Service Marketing
Consumer Behaviour
Relationship Marketing
Innovation and New Product Development
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Figure 21: Second component for 2004 according to track.
The second component for 2004 according to track (Figure 21 above), illustrates trackbased clustering around Bloemer and especially Wetzels. De Ruyter is the most active
node as this specific author has collaborated on four different research papers within
three different tracks.
42
Affiliation key:
University of Nottingham, England
University of Glasgow, Scotland
University of East Anglia, England
Open University of Hong Kong
University of Strathclyde, Scotland
Cardiff Business School, Wales
Figure 22: Third component for 2004 with affiliation.
Figure 22 above shows that the third component for 2004 with affiliation exhibits
geographical clustering around the University of Nottingham, England and the
University og Glasgow, Scotland, respectively.
43
Track key:
International and Cross-Cultural Marketing
Modeling and Forecasting
Relationship Marketing
Business-to-Business Marketing and Networks
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Consumer Behaviour
Marketing Strategy and Leadership
Figure 23: Third component for 2004 according to track.
The third component for 2004 acccording to track is presented in Figure 23 above. It
reveals no track-based clustering. It does, however, identify Ennew as the most
productive node with four different research papers written in four different tracks.
44
Affiliation key:
University of Mannheim, Germany
University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
New University of Lisbon, Portugal
Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa, Portugal
Nijmegen School of Management, The Netherlands
University of Innsbruck, Germany
University of Antwerp, Belgium
No affiliation available
Figure 24: Main component for 2007 with affiliation.
The main component for 2007 according to affiliation is displayed in Figure 24 above.
It shows a large group of researchers to be affiliated with the University of Mannheim in
Germany. In addition to this, two smaller groups of researchers are affiliated with two
Dutch universities, namely the University of Maastricht and Eindhoven University of
Technology, respectively. This points to some geographical clustering within the
network. Additional analysis of the main component for 2007 revealed that although
some of the researchers are affiliated with the same university, they have co-authored
45
Track key:
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Marketing of Public and Non-Proft Organisations
Service Marketing
International and Cross-Cultural Marketing
Marketing Strategy and Leadership
Business-to-Business Marketing and Networks
Tourism Marketing
Social Responsibility, Ethics and Consumer Protection
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
Figure 25: Main component for 2007 according to track.
46
Actor
Actor
Actor
Actor
Neighbourhood degree closeness betweenness
size
centrality centrality
centrality
Wetzels
11
11
54.762
Bauer
8
9
42.593
Lageslu
7
7
41.818
Table 9: Actor centrality measures for the main component of 2007.
181.500
110.500
62.000
Table 10 below shows additional centrality measures for the main component of 2007.
Oddly enough, all the eigenvector centrality scores for 2007 were negative. Everett
(2001) found a similar result and gave the explanation that the negative results were due
to the network containing disconnected components. He used the absolute value of the
scores instead. Following Everett (2001), the absolute value of the eigenvector
centrality score will be used in interpreting the findings. This then locates Wetzels as the
actor with the most well connected connections. He also holds the highest flow
betweenness centrality score and it would therefore reduce the flow in the network if he
was to leave the network. The reach centrality measure points to a less dense network as
the most central actor, Wetzels, can only reach 74 % percent of the component in two
steps. Finally, the concept of structural holes reveals Wetzels to be the researcher who
links researchers that would otherwise be disconnected. These findings can also be seen
in Figure 8.
Actor
Wetzels
Bauer
Flow
Reach centrality
Eigenvector betweenness
Structural
centrality
centrality
two-step
three-step
hole
- 73.648
- 27.323
370.000
226.000
0.74
0.43
0.96
0.87
9.000
6.556
47
0.74
5.000
Component
No. of actors
Density
Diameter
1
24
0.0797
4
2
19
0.0965
5
3
14
0.1264
3
Table 11: Main co-authorship component characteristics for 2007.
Affiliation key:
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
University of Wollongong, Australia
Erasmus University, The Netherlands
48
Figure 26 above illustrates the second component for 2007 according to affiliation. It
reveals geographical clustering around Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
and the University of Wollongong, Australia.
Track key:
Innovation and New Product Development
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
Product and Brand Management
Marketing Research and Research Methodology
Marketing of Public and Non-Profit Organisations
Figure 27: Second component for 2007 according to track.
49
Affiliation key:
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Erasmus University, The Netherlands
Waikato Management School, New Zealand
TNO Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, The Netherlands
VU University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
No affiliation available
Figure 28: Third component for 2007 with affiliation.
Figure 28 above presents the third component for 2007 according to affiliation. The
figure demonstrates geographical clustering around the University of Groningen, The
Netherlands.
50
Track key:
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Marketing Research and Research Methodology
Relationship Marketing
Consumer Behaviour
Innovation and New Product Development
International and Cross-Cultural Marketing
Figure 29: Third component for 2007 according to track.
The third component for 2007 according to track is presented in Figure 29 above. The
component only displays minor track-based clustering around Huizingh. The most
active node in the component is Bijmolt, who has co-authored six research papers in six
different tracks.
51
Affiliation key:
University of Hamburg, Germany
University of Cologne, Germany
University of Innsbruck, Germany
Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Waikato Management School, New Zealand
Groningen University, The Netherlands
University of Munich, Germany
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Bauhaus University of Weimar, Germany
Figure 30: Main component for 2010 with affiliation.
Figure 30 above shows the main component for 2010 according to affiliation. The
diagram reveals three large groups of researchers to be affiliated with the University of
Hamburg, the University of Cologne and the University of Innsbruck, respectively.
Additionally, a small group of researchers from the University of Hamburg is
disconnected from the larger group of researchers from this specific university but
connected to the group through Vlckner, who herself is affiliated with the University of
Cologne. These findings indicate strong geographical clustering within the network.
52
Track key:
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
Consumer Behaviour
Innovation and New Product Development
Product and Brand Management
Service Marketing
International and Cross-Cultural Marketing
Marketing Research and Research Methodology
Marketing Theory
Marketing of Public and Non-Profit Organisations
Figure 31: Main component for 2010 according to track.
53
Actor
Actor
Actor
Actor
Neighbourhood degree closeness betweenness
size
centrality centrality
centrality
Vlckner
16
17
47.368
Sattler
8
10
37.500
Matzler
7
7
24.490
Table 12: Actor centrality measures for the main component of 2010.
447.000
158.500
99.000
Table 13 below displays additional centrality measures for the main component of 2010.
Not surprisingly, Vlckner has the highest eigenvector centrality score as she is
connected to many other actors who are also well connected (see Figure 11). Matzlers
eigenvector centrality score, however, is low. The reason for this can be seen in Figure
11. It shows Matzler to be connected to a group of researchers, who are only connected
to the rest of the component through one researcher. The flow betweenness centrality
measure supports what can be seen in Figure 11, namely that if Vlckner decides to
leave the network it would leave it scattered. The reach centrality measure indicates a
less dense network as the most central actor can only reach 72 % percent of the
component in two steps. The structural hole measure confirms what the other measures
have demonstrated, that Vlckner occupy a hub position in the network.
54
Actor
Flow
Reach centrality
Eigenvector betweenness
Structural
centrality
centrality
two-step
three-step
hole
Vlckner
79.036
913.000
0.72
Sattler
58.989
360.333
0.64
Matzler
0.551
203.000
0.25
Table 13: Additional centrality measures for the main component of 2010.
0.81
0.75
0.31
13.912
6.100
4.429
Component
No. of actors
Density
Diameter
1
37
0.0541
6
2
24
0.0833
3
3
15
0.0952
2
Table 14: Main co-authorship component characteristics for 2010.
55
Affiliation key:
Ghent University, Belgium
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
University of Vienna, Austria
Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Belgium
University of Bern, Switzerland
Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada
Figure 32: Second component for 2010 with affiliation.
56
Track key:
Consumer Behaviour
Innovation and New Product Development
Product and Brand Management
Marketing Research and Research Methodology
Retailing, Channel Management and Logistics
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
International and Cross-Cultural Marketing
Figure 33: Second component for 2010 according to track.
Figure 33 above illustrates component number two according to track for 2010. It
reveals strong track-based clustering around Vermeir, in particular. This specific actor is
also the most productive member of the component with seven different research papers
written in three different tracks.
57
Affiliation key:
University of Murcia, Spian
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
BI Norwegian School of Management, Norway
Autonomous University Madrid, Spain
Koc University, Turkey
Figure 34: Third component for 2010 with affiliation.
Component number three for 2010 according to affiliation is displayed above in Figure
34. It presents geographical clustering around the University of Murcia, Spain.
Additionally, minor clustering appears around the Catholic University of Leuven,
Belgium and the Norwegian School of Management, Norway.
58
Track key:
Consumer Behaviour
Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication
New Technologies and E- Marketing
Social Responsibility, Ethics and Consumer Protection
Figure 35: Third component for 2010 according to track.
The final component to be displayed is the third component for 2010 according to track
(Figure 35). It shows relatively strong track-based clustering around Warlop within the
track Consumer Behaviour. Furthermore, clustering appears in the track Advertising,
Promotion and Marketing Communication. The most active node in the network is
Ruizsa, who has collaborated on four different research papers in three different tracks.
6. Discussion of Results
The following sections will discuss the findings presented above. The first section will
discuss the development of the EMAC network from 200 to 2010 and visualise findings
from Table 2. The four succeeding sections will then discuss the findings of the analysis
of the years 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010 individually.
59
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year
Figure 36: The development in the number of actors in the EMAC network 2000-2010.
The development in the number of actors in the EMAC network 2000-2010 is visualised
in Figure 36 above. It reveals a general increase in the number of researchers who have
participated in the EMAC conferences with one or more co-authored research papers.
This finding is consistent with the results of Laband and Tollison (2000) and Moody
(2004) who observed an increase in co-authorship in a number of scientific disciplines.
60
61
0,5
0,45
0,4
Density
0,35
0,3
0,25
0,2
0,15
0,1
0,05
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year
The development in the diameter of the main components in the period 2000 to 2010 is
visualised in Figure 38 below. Despite the relatively low density scores, the majority of
the individual years, with the exception of 2009 and 2010, display small world
properties as their diameters are 5 or lower. Figures 1 to 11 demonstrate the majority of
years to have networks which are grouped around central researchers who collaborate
extensively within the network and play a crucial role in linking various parts of the
network, i.e. they display small world properties. These findings are in accordance
with results presented by Newman (2001b), Barabsi et al. (2002) and Morlacchi et al.
(2005) as they found the typical distance between researchers within networks to be
small. However, the findings of the study at hand do not support previous research on
co-authorship in a conference setting. On the contrary, Vidgen et al. (2007) and
Henneberg et al. (2009) found that the main components of the collaboration networks
under their investigation displayed large world properties. These contradicting results
may be explained by the fact that these two studies were based on cumulative data
whereas the current study focuses on the main components of the individual years.
The fact that the majority of the individual years exhibit small world characteristics
points to a relatively easy diffusion of new theories, concepts and research methods
within the network.
62
7
6
Diameter
5
4
3
2
1
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year
Prior studies have noted the presence of so-called invisible colleges within social
networks (Crane, 1972; Eaton et al., 1999; Morlacchi et al., 2005; Henneberg et al.,
2009). The study at hand produced results which corroborate the findings of previous
work in this field. Invisible colleges formed by highly productive and central actors
take up hub positions in the main components of the current study. These researchers
hold key roles in disseminating knowledge throughout the network as they reoccur as
central players in a number of years. An example of an invisible college within the
EMAC community is a group of ten researchers (Anttila, Matear, Hooley, Theoharakis,
Greenley, Tuominen, Hyvnen, Mller, Rajala and Kasper), who are all members of the
compact main component in the year 2004. These actors reoccur in 2006 where they
form the core of the main component for that year. This finding indicates continuous
collaboration over time, hence supporting the notion of invisible colleges within the
EMAC community.
65
66
67
68
69
7. Limitations
A number of limitations exist for the study at hand. First of all, the current study
considers only one aspect of research collaboration, namely co-authorship in a
conference setting. By omitting books and journal articles outside the EMAC
conference setting significant contributions to knowledge generation are not considered.
Second, single authored research papers are not included in the study and this offers a
drawback to the methodology adopted in the present study as researchers publishing
alone also add to the generation of knowledge within a field. Third, a possibility that
two authors co-authored a paper before 2000 exists, but in the present data set they
appear as disconnected because the focus of this study is only on 2000-2010. This poses
a methodological disadvantage to the study but is a consequence of the limited time
frame studied.
8. Further Research
The present study provides the basis for further studies of the way in which members of
the EMAC community collaborate on scientific research papers. It would be relevant to
perform a series of interviews with actors of the EMAC network in order to make more
accurate assumptions about collaboration in the network. An interesting topic in the
interviews would be the year 2004 as it would be relevant to establish the motivation
behind the research paper that formed the basis of the main component of 2004. As this
year proved to be quite exceptional it would be interesting to find out why so many
authors collaborated on this specific research paper. The interviews should also be
designed to give information on the degree to which researchers in this specific network
tend to specialise. This will provide a deeper insight into the way in which actors choose
collaboration partners. An additional yield from the interviews should be more
information regarding the more productive researchers in the community. Why do they
70
9. Conclusion
The present study has demonstrated the application of Social Network Analysis to coauthorship in a conference setting. The objective of the study was to analyse the
structure of the collaboration network of the EMAC community and to unveil patterns
and regularities in the choice of collaboration partners of the members of this specific
community over time.
The structure of the EMAC scientific research community is characterised by a number
of highly visible authors who dominate the individual years. These researchers occupy
central positions in the network from which knowledge (and possibly also research
strategy) is pushed out. In holding key positions in the network these actors will
automatically become leading channels of relational information and will naturally
become popular collaboration partners. As the central nodes in the network are more
71
72
73
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http://www.emac-online.org/r/printPage.asp?iID=IIKFF
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Name
Code name
Adams, Edward I.
Adams, Leen
Ahmed, Pervaiz K.
Ahmed, Sadrudin A.
Ali, Abdul Manan
Ali, Haider
Ali, M. Yunus
Alvarez, Begoa
Alvarez, M. Teresa
Alvarez
Andersen, AnneMette Sonne
Andersen, Otto
Andersen, Poul
Houman
Anderson, Heln
Anderson, Susan
Andrews, Jonlee
Andrews, Lynda
Anthony, Christina
Anthony, Janine
Antonella, Car
Antonella, Cugini
Armario, Enrique
Martin
Armario, Julia
Martin
Arnold, Armin
Arnold, Mark J.
Backhaus, Christof
Backhaus, Klaus
Baker, Ellen
Baker, Michael
Baker, Susan
Baker, William
Bal, Charles
Bal, Rene
Banerjee,
Madhumita
Banerjee,
Subhabrata Bobby
Barnes, Bradley
Barnes, Stuart
Bauer, Andrs
Adams
Adamsle
Ahmedper
Ahmed
Aliab
Ali
Aliyu
Alvarez
Alvarezte
Andersenmet
Andersen
Andersenpou
Andersonhel
Anderson
Andrewsjon
Andrews
Anthony
Anthonyjan
Antonella
Antonellacu
Armario
Armarioju
Arnoldar
Arnold
Backhauschri
Backhaus
Bakerell
Bakermi
Bakersu
Baker
Bal
Balre
Banerjee
Banerjeesub
Barnes
Barnesstu
Bauerand
78
Bauer
Bauermar
Becker
Beckerjan
Beckerjoc
Beckerkat
Beckerkip
Bellda
Bellpau
Bell
Bengtsson
Bengtssonmar
Benitogab
Benito
Bennettdag
Bennettre
Bennett
Blackia
Black
Brady
Bradymai
Brennan
Brennanro
Broderick
Broderickan
Brodericklei
Brown
Brownjen
Brownjoa
Brownste
Brownur
Byrne
Byrnegab
Carneiro
Carneiromar
Castroal
Castro
Castroluci
Castrolu
Chanjit
Chan
Chanri
Chantze
79
Chandonjea
Chandon
Chenbo
Chen
Chenchi
Chenfu
Chenkuan
Chenshu
Chenyu
Chenzhi
Chien
Chienpi
Chou
Chouti
Christensenal
Christensen
Christensenbj
Christensenlar
Christensensver
Claro
Claropri
Clark
Clarkmo
Clarke
Clarkeian
Coelhoarn
Coelho
Cornelissen
Cornelissenmar
Costaclau
Costafi
Costa
Cowley
Cowleykym
Coxda
Cox
Dahan
Dahanmari
Da Silvadan
80
Da Silva
Da Silvajor
Daskouan
Daskou
Davies
Daviesia
Dawesjo
Dawes
Denisjea
Denis
Derbaix
Derbaixma
Devlinel
Devlin
De Wet
De Wetthi
Dias
Diasjo
Diehlkri
Diehl
Dimitriadis
Dimitriadisser
Elliott
Elliottsta
Estebangu
Esteban
Evans
Evansmar
Falkenberg
Falkenberglo
Farrellco
Farrell
Fernandes
Fernandesjo
Fernandezan
Fernndezest
Fernndez
Fernandezgui
Fernandez
Ferreiraalc
Ferreiraarm
81
Ferreira
Ferreiramar
Fischerbe
Fischer
Fischerwol
Fletcher
Fletcherri
Fournier
Fourniersu
Frank
Franklau
Frymar
Fry
Fu
Fuis
Fuchschri
Fuchs
Fuchsseb
Gabrielsengo
Gabrielsen
Ganesanra
Ganesan
Gaohong
Gao
Garcia
Garcai
Garcair
Garciajos
Garciaro
Garcarosa
Garcater
Garnier
Garniermar
Garrettja
Garrett
Geigering
Geiger
Gomezjai
Gomezjor
Gomezmi
Gomezmon
Gomez
Gonzlezcel
Gonzalezjo
Gonzlezeli
82
Gonzalezmar
Gonzlezos
Gonzlez
Gonzlezvar
Gopalakrishnapil
Gopalakrishna
Graham
Grahamstu
Grant
Grantian
Griffinab
Griffin
Gruberbar
Gruber
Haase
Haaseno
Hansenfle
Hansenjo
Hansen
Hansenlot
Hansensr
Hansentor
Hansenfel
Harrisfi
Harrisjen
Harriskim
Harrislloy
Harris
Harrisphi
Hartmann
Hartmannben
Hartmannevi
Hartmannpat
Heidemo
Heide
Helmro
Helm
Hernndez
Hernndezro
Herrmannan
Herrmann
Horvth
Horvthdo
Hoffmannar
83
Hoffmannjon
Hoffmann
Hogggi
Hogg
Hoppedan
Hoppe
Huber
Huberjan
Hubert
Hubertmi
Hughes
Hughespa
Hunter
Hunterlou
Iyereas
Iyer
Jaakkolael
Jaakkola
Jiangmi
Jiang
Jimenezana
Jimnezda
Jimnezju
Jimnez
Johanson
Johansonmar
Johansson
Johanssonulf
Johnsonca
Johnsoner
Johnson
Johnsonmi
Jones
Jonesmar
Jonesri
Jonesro
Jonessan
Jungkath
Jung
Kahnken
Kahn
Kaiser
Kaiserjon
Kaiserul
Kangseu
Kang
84
Kayaber
Kaya
Kefisa
Kefi
Kellertho
Keller
Kempgi
Kemp
Kentan
Kent
Kimry
Kimeun
Kimhye
Kimgil
Kimjae
Kimjo
Kimho
Kimjung
Kimkyun
Kim
Kimkey
Kimkwa
Kimhoon
Kimsoo
Kimnam
Kimpan
Kimsteph
Kimyev
Kimyou
Klausmar
Klaus
Klein
Kleinkri
Kleinma
Knightdee
Knight
Kochchri
Koch
Kozak
Kozakro
Kumar
Kumarnir
Kumarra
Kwon
Kwonoh
Lages
Lagesra
85
Lageslu
Lagesna
Larochemar
Larochemi
Laroche
Larsengre
Larsenke
Larsen
Laurentflo
Laurentgeo
Laurent
Leeang
Leeber
Leecha
Leechri
Leedon
Leedong
Leehsin
Leehye
Leehy
Leeja
Lee
Leejoho
Leejohw
Leejoo
Leeka
Leemic
Leenich
Leeni
Leehee
Leeseu
Leewon
Leezo
Leonidoucon
Leonidou
Lewisba
Lewis
Lewiston
Limel
Lim
Liuben
Liuho
Liujia
Liumar
Liupei
86
Liuray
Liureb
Liu
Lopezcar
Lopez
Lpezin
Lpez
Lopznic
Lpezpil
Lopezra
Luir
Lu
Luvi
Luna
Lunapau
Lutzan
Lutz
Makath
Mashan
Ma
Mazhen
Marquesal
Marquescat
Marques
Martin
Martinchri
Martindan
Martinosc
Martinped
Martinxav
Martnez
Martinezcaro
Martnezeva
Martnezfran
Mattsson
Mattssonlar
McDonald
McDonaldseo
Meierdo
Meier
Melnyk
Melnykvla
87
Menezes
Menezesrui
Michaelis
Michaelisman
Michel
Michelste
Millerken
Miller
Millerro
Mizerskidi
Mizerski
Moellerlis
Moellerti
Moeller
Molinaart
Molina
Morganne
Morgan
Mortonfi
Morton
Mousleyben
Mousley
Mllerja
Mller
Muellerbar
Muellerre
Mueller
Mller
Mllermel
Nagy
Nagysza
Nancarrow
Nancarrowpam
Navarroang
Navarro
Nelson
Nelsonja
Nelsonle
Nelsonmich
Neumann
Neumannmar
Nguyencat
Nguyen
Nguyentra
Nielsen
Nielsenan
88
Olsen
Olsenlar
Palmer
Palmerro
Pattersonmau
Patterson
Paulgor
Paul
Pauwels
Pauwelspie
Peattie
Peattiesue
Pereirahl
Pereiraro
Pereira
Peterski
Peters
Polo
Poloyo
Poulis
Pouliskon
Proenca
Proencarei
Rajh
Rajhsun
Ramanathan
Ramanathanram
Raosa
Rao
Reedam
Reed
Reidmi
Reid
Reinhold
Reinholdste
Reynolds
Reynoldskri
Reynoldsni
Rivas
Rivasjav
Riverajai
Rivera
Robben
Robbenrod
Robson
Robsonmat
89
Rodrigues
Rodriguespau
Rodrguezana
Rodrguezma
Rodrguez
Rodrguezpin
Rodrguezrosa
Romerocar
Romero
Rose
Rosejo
Rossicar
Rossi
Rothkat
Roth
Rowe
Rowesu
Rubioana
Rubiolu
Rubio
Ruiz
Ruizda
Ruizen
Ruizmol
Ruizro
Ruizsa
Russell
Russellda
Sackettan
Sackett
Saker
Sakerme
Salavou
Salavouhel
Salazar
Salazarmar
Snchezisa
Snchezja
Snchezma
Snchez
Snchezter
90
Santoscri
Santosjes
Santosjo
Santosli
Santosmar
Santosmi
Santosru
Santos
Schmidtmar
Schmidt
Schmidttho
Schmidtthor
Schmidtvol
Schmitt
Schmittphi
Schmittro
Schulzecar
Schulze
Scottad
Scott
Sharma
Sharmanee
Sharp
Sharpby
Shawde
Shawmi
Shawro
Shaw
Shinjo
Shin
Silva
Silvacat
Silvamar
Simon
Simonju
Simonste
Sinclair
Sinclairthe
Singhjag
Singhjay
Singh
Singhsaty
Singhsid
Sinhaas
Sinha
Slaterrod
91
Slatersta
Slater
Smited
Smit
Smithan
Smithap
Smith
Smithga
Soares
Soaresel
Soodas
Sood
Songin
Song
Songsang
Srivastavarajen
Srivastava
Steinermi
Steinersus
Steiner
Sun
Sunlu
Taylorchar
Taylor
Taylorpa
Teichmannka
Teichmann
Thompson
Thompsonyv
Tuominen
Tuominensa
Van Der Lans
Van Der Lansra
Van Dijkal
Van Dijl
Villanueva
Villanuevamar
Vogeljo
Vogel
Vossgle
Voss
Vosszan
Wagnerjan
Wagner
Wagnerste
Wagnerudo
92
Walkerjo
Walker
Walterach
Walter
Wangi
Wanglai
Wang
Wangwe
Wangyan
Wardja
Ward
Weberbe
Weber
Wilkean
Wilke
Wilkesi
Wilsonal
Wilsonbrad
Wilson
Wilsonju
Wong
Wongma
Wongnan
Wongve
Wrightgeo
Wrightlen
Wright
Wrightow
Wuste
Wu
Xiechu
Xie
Yang
Yangra
Youngja
Youngka
Younglou
Young
Yutif
Yu
Yuwan
Zhanghong
Zhangji
Zhang
Zhangli
Zhangti
Zhu
93
Zhuti
Track 12:
New Technologies and E-Marketing
Track 13:
Pricing and Financial Issues in Marketing
Track 14:
Product and Brand Management
Track 15:
Relationship Marketing
Track 16:
Retailing, Channel Management and Logistics
Track 17:
Sales Management and Personal Selling
Track 18:
Service Marketing
Track 19:
Social Responsibility, Ethics and Consumer Protection
Track 20:
Tourism Marketing
Appendix 3: Data CD
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