Sunbelt XXXI International Network for Social Network ... - INSNA

Collaborating Through Networks: The Role Of Teacher Social Capital In Student Standardized Testing PerformanceEdinger, Suzanne K.; Edinger, Matthew J.Education, knowledge and learning networksSocial Capital, Collaboration, Education, Performance, Advice Network, Knowledge exchangeSUN.AM1Current educational policy emphasizes homogeneous student achievement. In this operating environment, both student learning and teacher performanceare frequently evaluated using standardized test results. Many teacher attributes, such as education or years of experience, impact student test performance.However, these attributes are insufficient to ensure positive student outcomes: teachers must be able to apply their knowledge and supplement it whennecessary. Contextual factors, such as the relationships that teachers foster with their colleagues, play an important role. Resources derived from the networkof relationships in a social unit, or social capital (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), allows teachers to access advice that will improve teaching practices and provideimportant social support. Social capital has been linked to improved team and individual performance in a variety of work contexts (e.g., Reagans, Zuckerman,& McEvily, 2004). However, we know relatively little about either the factors that facilitate or inhibit the development or utilization of social capital or themechanisms that underlie the social capital‐performance relationship. In our pilot study of 66 teachers in two suburban Virginia elementary schools, we foundthat teacher sense of efficacy predicted teacher ego‐network density in an academic advice network which then predicted variance in student grades. We alsofound that climate for supervisory support predicted school academic advice network density, teacher brokerage position in the academic advice network, andteacher out‐degree centrality in a non‐academic advice network which then predicted mean SOL scores. Data collection is ongoing.Collaboration And Competition In Post‐merger NetworkLee, Chang KilCollaboration, coordination and cooperationCollaboration, Competitive Ties, Public OrganizationsFRI.PM2The paper examines how network structure affects collaboration in post‐merger network among ministries in government. The data was collected from anarchive data on exchanged documents among ministries and a questionnaire to public servants in merged ministries in 2008. The network structures asindependent variables include the gap of centrality between ministries which may represent authority, cohesion, and competition measured by structuralequivalence. The degree of collaboration as the dependent variable is divided into two viewpoints: ego and alter. The result of QAP analysis shows that premergercollaboration is significantly related to cohesion while post‐merger collaboration is significantly related to competition. Also, the effect of interactionvariable between cohesion and competition on collaboration is found significant with larger coefficients. This result possibly implies the existence of‘competitive cohesion’ or ‘cohesive competition’ in the middle of the two. In other words, merger may improve collaboration through competition amongministries rather than through authority or cohesion. This implies paradoxically that competition among ministries might be introduced in order to improvecollaboration.