Dynamic Network Theory (PDF)

New discoveries across the social sciences highlight social networks as phenomena that can influence and change our lives. But what the literature doesn't address is: What gives social networks such power? How do they facilitate and motivate change? In Dynamic Network Theory, James D. Westaby expertly melds social psychology's traditional focus on individual and collective goals with organizational/management science's analyses of institutional roles. The result is a masterly interdisciplinary work that explores these networks' generation of social capital in formal and informal organizations and settings. This analysis is made possible through a powerful combination of approaches from social psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, organization/management science, social learning, and helping skills. Dynamic Network Theory is a quantum advance over conventional approaches because it directly infuses goals into social network analyses. Reaching beyond past research, the author also shows how the new concepts of network motivation and the network rippling of emotions have powerful effects on social networks. Westaby expertly uses new dynamic network charts to illustrate the various everyday social networks we encounter in some way at different levels of analysis from a local community trying to help solve a neighborhood crime, to a firm wondering how to track the source of performance problems, or to transnational terrorist cells figuring out how to plan an attack without central control or coordination. Geared for researchers and practitioners interested in new approaches to social network analysis, Dynamic Network Theory is also written for scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students in social psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and organizational/management science. In addition, the theory has implications for topics in conflict resolution, counseling, health, education, political science/international relations, consultation, and military studies. Appendixes include primers on designing and analyzing dynamic network charts and surveys.