Application of Social Network Theory in the Field of(2006年公共管理国际会议论文).doc

The Application of Social Network Theory in the Field ofPublic Management Study* 1.CHEN Lu 2.CHENG Lei 3. JING Runtian 1.School of Management of UESTC, Chengdu, P.R.China, 610054 2.Government Administrative Office Service Center of QingYang District Chengdu , P.R.China, 610031 Abstract The social network theory, with its sources from the field of sociology research, has gradually been applied in the field of management research. This paper reviews the core theory and analytic framework of social network theory. It also analyzes the relationship between the basic paradigms of social network analysis and that of the public management study. On the basis of the above explanations, the paper discusses the applications of social network theory in certain areas of public management research. Key words social network, public management, paradigm, application 1 Introduction It is well known that all the organizations and individuals have certain relationship or tie with the outside environment. Such a kind of relationship or tie is embedded or floating in a complicated social network, which is weaved by multiple sources of relationships. Inside the network, the relationship is the cause and the tie is the result, and they combine together to establish the basic framework of social network. Social network theory together with its analysis framework emerged in 1950s. Since then, it has been applied in the sociology study. The limitations of research boundary have largely hampered the further development of social network theory. In fact, social network theory can be used in explaining and analyzing the problems in various fields, including sociology, enterprise management and public management. In particular, it has shown its importance as a new view of the public sector. Since both the internal and external environments of the public sector have shown certain social network characteristics, the social network theory can be applied to analyze the related issues in the