Brokerage power and knowledge integration: Research on the mechanism of social capital in scientific co-authorship networks

经纪权力与知识整合:科研社会资本作用机制

Abstract

Structural holes theory has great contributions to the research on social networks, which shifts the focus from network configuration and connection strength to the node location. According to this theory, social capital is rooted in the potential for brokering opportunities hidden among network fragments, and appropriate use of such opportunities can bring at least two advantages: First, brokerage power. By controlling the path through network segmentations, brokers as tertius gaudens can arrange the communication of the segmentations, control the flows of resources, and obtain the opportunities of arbitrage; Second, knowledge integration. Serving as a link between heterogeneous groups, actors access to and familiarize different ways of thinking and diverse tacit knowledge, effectively collecting novel information, and thereby taking the lead in discovering innovative opportunities and promoting innovation. However, most of the previous studies confused and undistinguished these two advantages that are rooted in completely different social mechanisms. We collect the information of publication in Science from 2000 to 2018 to build the network model, test the hypotheses of structural holes theory in the scientific research field by regression analysis, and compare these two advantages of the structural holes in the scientific co-authorship network. The results show: Occupation of structural holes promotes peer recognition; The role of the knowledge integration surpass that of the brokerage power.