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Structural Centrality in Communications Networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Kenneth D. Mackenzie
Kenneth D. Mackenzie*
Affiliation:
Carnegie Institute of Technology
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Abstract

This paper examines the concept of centrality with respect to small-group communication experiments. An index of centrality is presented which is based on the incidence matrix of actual communications rather than on the deviation matrix of possible communications, as in the Bavelas Index of Centrality. The index takes the value of zero for the homogeneous all-channel graph and the value of unity for the homogeneous wheel graph. The index can be computed for individuals as well as groups. Three examples are computed.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 1966 , pp. 17 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © 1966 Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported in part by Ford Foundation Grant 140055 to the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Institute of Technology for Research in Organizational Behavior.

†

Graduate School of Industrial Administration of Carnegie Institute of Technology. The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments and criticisms of R. L. Swinth in the preparation of this manuscript.

References

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