Exploring factors driving social recruiting: the case of Australian organisations

This study identifies key factors driving the organizational adoption of Social Recruiting (SR) technologies, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The Technology, Organization and Environment (TOE) framework, as an initial exploratory approach, is used to identify underlying factors of new technology adoption. Qualitative evidence collected from twelve Australian firms serves to specifically categorise key determinants of the organizational adoption of social recruiting technologies. It is found that, apart from several technology, organization and environment factors that significantly influence the organizational decision-making with reference to social recruiting, top management support is seen as imperative for successful adoption of recruiting technologies. Formalisation, comprehensiveness, and strategic orientation of organizational human resource departments are closely linked to adoption of social recruiting at the firm level. In addition, job applicants’ readiness and local success stories have driven firms to adopt social recruiting technologies. The study extends and modifies the TOE model to provide the theoretical foundations of social recruiting in the context of Australian organizations and help human resource professionals and practitioners to gain a better understanding of key drivers of organizational social recruiting.

'Are you sure you're going to have another one of those?': a qualitative analysis of the social control and social support models in type 2 diabetes

While there is evidence that spouses can impact the self-management of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, less is known about the influence of the wider social network. This qualitative study explored the perceived impact of the family as well as friends and work colleagues on type 2 diabetes mellitus self-management. A total of 25 adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their social experiences of living with diabetes. Deductive thematic analysis was applied to the data. Pre-existing themes of health-related social control and social support were identified in the wider social network, with additional themes of non-involvement and unintentional undermining also emerging.

Crowdfunding academic researchers – the importance of academic social media profiles

Traditionally, the main source of funding for university research comes from either private or government grants. Grant schemes are usually highly competitive with low success rates, favour experienced or senior researchers and take considerable time to be processed thereby delaying potential discoveries. In December 2012 pozible.com and Deakin University agreed to create an opportunity for the community funding of Australian university research. Research My World launched to the public in May 2013 with eight campaigns spanning a range of academic discipline areas and project types. Subsequent project cycles have occurred at approximately six monthly intervals and the program was expanded to include research bids from other universities and research centres. As of mid-November 2015, 19 successful research crowdfunding projects have raised more than more than AU$185,000 in funding at Deakin University alone. This paper presents the results of a research investigation into the Research My World crowdfunding initiative. We detail the method developed for the collection and visualisation of social media data related to the research crowdfunding projects, the analysis of the links between social media activity and project success, and the general guidance for future project cycles that we derived from this analysis.

Dynamic social networks in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

One of the main challenges in the study of social networks in vertebrates is to close the gap between group patterns and dynamics. Usually scan samples or transect data are recorded to provide information about social patterns of animals, but these techniques themselves do not shed much light on the underlying dynamics of such groups. Here we show an approach which captures the fission-fusion dynamics of a fish population in the wild and demonstrates how the gap between pattern and dynamics may be closed. Our analysis revealed that guppies have complex association patterns that are characterised by close strong connections between individuals of similar behavioural type. Intriguingly, the preference for particular social partners is not expressed in the length of associations but in their frequency. Finally, we show that the observed association preferences could have important consequences for transmission processes in animal social networks, thus moving the emphasis of network research from descriptive mechanistic studies to functional and predictive ones.

Identifying social influence in complex networks: a novel conductance eigenvector centrality model

Identifying influential peers is an important issue for business to promote commercial strategies in social networks. This paper proposes a conductance eigenvector centrality (CEC) model to measure peer influence in the complex social network. The CEC model considers the social network as a conductance network and constructs methods to calculate the conductance matrix of the network. By a novel random walk mechanism, the CEC model obtains stable CEC values which measure the peer influence in the network. The experiments show that the CEC model can achieve robust performance in identifying peer influence. It outperforms the benchmark algorithms and obtains excellent outcomes when the network has high clustering coefficient.

Geographical dislocation and adjustment in university students: the impact of attachment, autonomy and coping behaviour on stress and well-being

The relative contribution of geographical dislocation, attachment styles, coping behaviours, and autonomy, to successful student adjustment, was examined in relation to stress and well-being. A sample of 142 on campus first year university students, across four Victorian university campuses completed self-report questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic, social network, intrapsychic (attachment and autonomy), and coping variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that being female, not having made a friend to confide in personal matters, lower achieved autonomy, and use of emotion-focused coping predicted higher levels of student stress. A second multiple regression analysis revealed that living away from home, and preferring others to approach oneself to initiate conversation or friendships predicted lower well-being, whilst increased frequency of phone and email contact, and greater secure parent and peer attachment, predicted greater well-being. Pearson's correlations indicated that securely attached students used more problem focused coping and social support, whereas insecurely attached students used more emotion focused coping. Qualitative data indicated student concerns about being away from family and friends, finance, course direction and structure, social opportunities on campus, and generally adjusting to the university culture. It was concluded that first year on-campus students would benefit from program initiatives targeting enhancement of on-campus social opportunities, development of autonomy, problem focused coping behaviour, interpersonal and social assertiveness.

Cultural factors behind the adoption of e-learning in Turkey

This paper aims to examine ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of information technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Turkey who have become change-agents by inspiring small networks of their peers. The study examines the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. Findings from this research can assist individuals and institutions to better understand ways in which to optimize the online teaching and learning experience for staff.

Information navigation and knowledge discovery in virtual communities

Over the past decade, advances in the Internet and media technology have literally brought people closer than ever before. It is interesting to note that traditional sociological definitions of a community have been outmoded, for community has extended far beyond the geographical boundaries that were held by traditional definitions (Wellman & Gulia, 1999). Virtual or online community was defined in such a context to describe various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Although virtual communities do not necessarily arise from the Internet, the overwhelming popularity of the Internet is one of the main reasons that virtual communities receive so much attention (Rheingold, 1999). The beginning of virtual communities is attributed to scientists who exchanged information and cooperatively conduct research during the 1970s. There are four needs of participants in a virtual community: member interest, social interaction, imagination, and transaction (Hagel & Armstrong, 1997). The first two focus more on the information exchange and knowledge discovery; the imagination is for entertainment; and the transaction is for commerce strategy. In this article, we investigate the function of information exchange and knowledge discovery in virtual communities. There are two important inherent properties embedded in virtual communities (Wellman, 2001):

Are perceptions of the local environment related to neighbourhood satisfaction and mental health in adults?

Background: Perceptions of environmental attributes can influence satisfaction with where people live and mental health status. We examined the association between perceived environmental characteristics, neighbourhood satisfaction, and self-rated mental health.

Methods: We report cross-sectional data from the Physical Activity in Localities and Community Environments (PLACE) study in Australia (n = 2194). Self-report data included socio-demographics, perceived attributes of the environment, neighbourhood satisfaction (NS) and mental health status. Neighbourhood SES was obtained through census data. Factor analysis was used to identify dimensions of NS. Generalized linear models were used to examine associations between NS and perceived environment characteristics and whether aspects of NS were independently associated with mental health.

Results: NS factors identified were safety and walkability, access to destinations, social network, travel network, and traffic and noise. Perceived environmental characteristics of aesthetics and greenery, land use mix – diversity, street connectivity, traffic safety, infrastructure for walking, access to services and barriers to walking were found to be positively associated with these factors. Traffic load and crime were negatively associated. Three NS factors (safety and walkability, social network, and traffic and noise) were independent predictors of mental health.

Conclusions: Neighbourhood satisfaction may mediate the association between perceived environmental characteristics and measures of mental health in adults.

Cultural factors affecting the adoption of e-learning in Turkey

This paper reports findings from an ethnographic study of e-learning adopters in Turkey and examines ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of information technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Turkey who have become change-agents by inspiring small networks of their peers. The study examines the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. The key findings of this research are that the early adopters become change agents in small groups and networks and that the process of adoption relies heavily on social networks and connections. Findings from this research can assist individuals and institutions to better understand ways in which to optimize the online teaching and learning experience for staff.

Cultural factors behind the growth of e-learning in Malaysia Academic guanxi

This paper aims to discover and examine ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of information technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Malaysia who have become change-agents by inspiring small networks of their peers. The study examines the concept of guanxi to understand the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. This study points to the importance of developing guanxi, through the middle-down nurturing of peer networks, in developing a rich and rewarding environment for the development of online teaching.

Enablers and barriers to accessing mental health services for adults with high prevalence psychological disorders in South West Victoria

Knowing what services are available and how to access them can be challenging in rural areas. The aim of the South West Mental Health Mapping project was to identify the level, accessibility and effectiveness of mental health services for high prevalence psychological disorders amongst the adult population in the South West region of Victoria. This study includes data from a number of sources: regional records of the number and location of health professionals; a telephone survey of 1297 people in five Local Government Areas in the region; and a social network analysis of contact points. Additional qualitative interviews and surveys were conducted with 25 service recipients and 37 health professionals to identify issues from different perspective. This paper will focus on the social network analysis of the project. It highlights the relative prominence of each type of service provider within the overall network. The social network map shows the centrality of the General Practitioner and the wide range of agencies that become involved in supporting people with mental health issues. The discussion identifies primary contact points for people seeking help and places of referral. The main barrier acknowledged by people requiring assistance was lack of knowledge about where to go for help. Enablers included Medicare Better Access funded schemes. The findings show that there is a reasonable range of mental health professionals across the region, although there are challenges with recruitment and retention of staff. Even with available services, a major problem is communicating this information to potential consumers

Media reports of heroin overdose spates: public health messages, moral panics or risk advertisements?

This article reports on an investigation of the public health utility of media messages concerning spates (temporal clusters) of heroin-related overdose (HOD) from the perspective of some injecting drug users (IDUs). In-depth qualitative interviews were carried out with a convenience sample of 60 IDUs, in the setting of two Needle and Syringe Programs in an Australian regional city (Geelong) between April and May 2000. Very few interviewees reported that they had personally experienced a spate of overdoses. None of the interviewees reported communicating the existence of a killer batch to other IDUs. No interviewees reported having changed either their injecting practices or the amount of heroin they used following such a media alert. Indeed, a substantial minority of the interviewees reported seeking out these stronger batches and participant narratives illustrate that, for a substantial group of interviewees, the media reporting of a hypothetical 'killer batch' of heroin may have implications for their drug-seeking and health-related behaviour. It was found that the accuracy of information available to IDUs is mixed and that the flow of information within this social network was slow. Findings demonstrate that media reporting of killer batches of heroin has little value as a public health strategy and provide an example of how some activities that are proposed as public health measures may in fact have the opposite effect.

An overview of previous studies in stakeholder management and its implications for construction industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of previous studies in the field of stakeholder management, and propose implications for the construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach – Three major databases are searched: ABI, EI CompendexWeb, and ISI web of knowledge. Papers are searched on topic by using the keywords of “stakeholder management”, “management of stakeholders” and “management of stakeholder”. A brief review of the abstracts and conclusions of these papers is conducted to filter out the irrelevant and/or duplicate papers. After filtering, 159 articles with content relevant to stakeholder management are selected for analysis.

Findings – An overview of previous studies reveals that research interest in stakeholder management has turned to the descriptive approach. Through a critical review of stakeholder management process, three main problems of previous studies are identified: very few methods and tools are available to identify all stakeholders and their interests; limited studies involve the change management about the stakeholders' influence and relationship; and few studies are capable of reflecting the influence of the entire relationship network in practice.

Research limitations/implications – Two implications for the construction industry are suggested: establish a practical framework for managing stakeholders; and apply social network theory (SNT) in developing a stakeholder relationship model.

Originality/value – The overview and implications lead to new knowledge and an improved understanding of the management of multiple stakeholders in construction projects. The perspective of SNT avoids the deficiency of Freeman's dyadic ties model, and the project managers can make decisions in response to the stakeholder behaviours according to the entire relationship.

Knowledge sharing through virtual layers in regional sustainable development networks

Our research examines how the organisational structure facilitates knowledge sharing within the group. This case study examines a Victorian regional sustainable group using interviews and social network analysis to identify the group’s organisational structure and its effect on knowledge sharing between the members. Our findings indicate that while the mixed membership, lack of hierarchy and layered structure are complex, these elements work together to provide members with a rich body of knowledge. The diversity and differences in membership are complimentary and combined can provide a more in-depth understanding of the regional sustainable development issues.