Key players in network-oriented interventions

Individuals who are embedded in a social network decide non-cooperatively how much effort to exert in supporting victims of misbehavior. Each individual’s optimal effort depends on the contextual effect, the social multiplier effect and the social conformity effect. We characterize the Nash equilibr...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Atay, Ata, Mauleon, Ana, Schopohl, Simon, Vannetelbosch, Vincent
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/206589
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/206589
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Ciberassetjament escolar
Xarxes socials
Conformisme
Cyberbullying
Social networks
Conformity
Description
Summary:Individuals who are embedded in a social network decide non-cooperatively how much effort to exert in supporting victims of misbehavior. Each individual’s optimal effort depends on the contextual effect, the social multiplier effect and the social conformity effect. We characterize the Nash equilibrium and we derive an inter-centrality measure for finding the key player who once isolated increases the most the aggregate effort. An individual is more likely to be the key player if she is influencing many other individuals, she is exerting a low effort because of her characteristics, and her neighbors are strongly influenced by her. The key player policy increases substantially the aggregate effort and the targeted player should never be selected randomly. The key player is likely to remain the key player in presence of social workers except if she is becoming much less influential due to her closeness to social workers. Finally, we consider alternative policies (e.g. training bystanders for supporting victims) and compare them to the policy of isolating the key player