Using social network analysis to assess climate change professionals’ communications in Iran

Abstract

Abstract Increased cooperation of an interdisciplinary group of climate change professionals as a social network can play a crucial role in adaptation to climate change. To investigate this relationship at the country-scale, this study uses a case study in Iran in order to 1) measure the cooperative relationship among climate change professionals using the network analysis approach, and; 2) analyze the potential of the network in promoting adaptation measures based on sustainable development. Social network analysis, which is both a quantitative and qualitative method of grounded theory was used to analyze the data. Data collection was performed using two questionnaires including network analysis and a survey, as well as a number of semi-structured interviews with the climate change professionals. The data was collected from climate change professionals including a sample of 55 individuals who were surveyed as a complete network. The network relationship results have been analyzed using different tests at three (micro, macro and the interactions between the two) levels. The results have shown that the connectedness of the network is 23.7%, with 42.4% mutual links. The transitivity rate in the network is 51.39%, which determines the possibility of each professional communicating with a third party. According to the normalized degree index, 34.29% of the cases are in contact with other researchers in the network and 53.15% received a connection from others. Grounded theory analysis showed that five core categories including social capital, managerial factors, research, relations, and coordination affected the quality and utility of Iranian climate change professionals’ network.