Abstract

The study of balance in signed networks has been a key topic for over 80 years. Starting with Heider’s theory of structural balance and Harary’s balance theorem, the measurement and understanding of structural balance in networks has grown exponentially. Most theoretical and empirical studies, however, focus on balance on the network as a whole, even though the degree of balance may strongly vary within the network. Our study makes two key contributions to this literature. First, we offer a methodology for measuring balance between nodes in a network. We show that dyadic (im)balance reveals significant information about localized balance that is not apparent in a global metric of balance. Second, we show that this metric can be applied to data containing multiple relations, for example, friendship, enmity, trade and fights, which reveals balance and imbalance otherwise hidden when focusing on only …

Date

2020

Authors

Keith Burghardt, Zeev Maoz

Journal

Journal of Complex Networks

Volume

8

Issue

1

Pages

cnaa001

Publisher

Oxford University Press