Social Network Analysis of TRB Standing Committees

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the interconnectedness of Transportation Research Board (TRB) standing committees using social network analysis. Analyzing co-membership of these research committees indicates the degree to which committees have the potential to collaborate and share information. The TRB member database was used to analyze membership across the 210 standing committees. Members serving on multiple committees create the network ties, which means that one or more members may be sharing information and creating partnerships between members and committees. This leads to inter-organizational knowledge transfer which is certainly a benefit of information sharing that occurs at the individual and committee levels that can extend far beyond TRB. The results of the analysis are especially valuable for committees attempting to forge strategic research partnerships and interdisciplinary relationships that may result in research opportunities through new or expanded topics. The analysis provides insight into the general characteristics of TRB committees and their members, which is useful for making comparisons. The Transportation and Sustainability Committee (ADD40) is used as a case study to illustrate how the results of social network analysis can be applied at the committee level.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee A0000 Technical Activities.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Sanchez, Thomas W
  • Hall, Ralph P
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 26p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Committees; Research; Transportation
• Candidate Terms: Social networking
• Identifier Terms: Transportation Research Board
• Uncontrolled Terms: Social network analysis; Transportation knowledge networks
• Subject Areas: Research; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01514478
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-1796
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 18 2014 5:21PM