Can you hold an advantageous network position? The role of neighborhood similarity in the sustainability of structural holes in social networks

摘要

The literature has provided multiple metrics to measure the structural position of a node in a network or its structural social capital. However, the dynamics of social capital is rarely addressed. In this article, we analyze the sustainability of the structural position of the leaders. We explore the role of neighborhood similarity and propose inbound and outbound similarity measures to address the structural hole's sustainability. To evaluate our approach, we use four real dynamic graphs and Susceptible, Infectious, or Recovered (SIR) model of epidemiology and regression analysis. We evaluate the power of our measures in predicting the evolution of the information spread of nodes, and compare the results with the measures from the literature. Our results confirm the relevance of neighborhood similarity for addressing the sustainability of social capital over time. In particular, the notions of inbound and outbound similarity proposed in this article show its relevance. The proposed framework allows better evaluation of one's strategic position in a social network and measures the potential future impact.