Information Exchange Network of Local Food Promoters in Vermont: A Social Network Analysis

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: As an emerging trend in food movement, local food consumption has various organizations involved in this common cause. There are currently dozens of organizations related to local food consumption in Vermont. However, as this movement is gaining momentum, there is an increasing call for coordination and information sharing among different organizations. Research is needed to collect and analyze the information exchange structure within the local food network. Social network analysis (SNA) is a useful method to conceptualize and visualize communication structures. Such information is useful in identifying the organizations with the most influence on local food information and consumption. The information can facilitate the coordination process among organizations. It will contribute to the efficient growth of the local food movement, including producing, informing and increasing consumption and ultimately improving the Vermont economy. This study aims to discover and map the underlying structural relationships among different organizations within the information-sharing network of local food consumption in Vermont. It will also examine the correlates of one organization?s position within the social network. The successful promotion of local food is central to the development of agriculture economy and healthy lifestyles in Vermont. Increased local food consumption means less fossil fuel use and road congestion, better reservation of local farmland and farms, superior flavor, and reduced food safety risk (Halweil, 2003). This local food movement is especially relevant at a time when higher transportation costs are currently driving food prices high and food safety incidents are making international headlines. Methodologically speaking, unlike the traditional multivariate analyses that focus on an actor (usually the individual, and sometimes the organization) as the unit of analysis, SNA focuses on the patterning of relationships among actors in a network. It should be a useful tool for understanding the local community development in Vermont. Thus its use in the future can be expanded beyond food related organizations. A better understanding of communication networks in local food consumption will help relevant organizations coordinate with each other in a more efficient manner. An effective network structure is important for information sharing and organizational learning. Knowledge of social networks can help organizations identify opportunities for collaboration. Our findings will be especially relevant to managers and executives who oversee those organizations. Management must have at least some comprehension of their organization's social networks in order to effectively leverage this phenomenon (Carter, Ellram & Tate, 2007), such as forming strategic alliances with other organizations. Alliances can be used to reduce an organization's exposure to uncertainty, risk, and opportunism (Gulati, 1995). The findings from this study can facilitate the development of a firm community base for organizations promoting local food consumption in Vermont.

<P>APPROACH: In this study, the unit of analysis is an organization that has a mission to promote local food consumption in Vermont. A group that qualifies for this study should be based in Vermont. It can be a governmental organization or a non-governmental organization. It can be profit or not-for-profit. For the purpose of this study, information exchange is the giving or receiving of information that supports local food consumption. Exchange of information can occur through a variety of communication channels: face-to-face contacts, phone calls, emails, newsletters, magazines, websites, seminars, conferences, listservs, blogs, wiki, myspace, facebook, twitter and through some other new media outlets. Network centrality, will be measured by the presence and frequency of information exchange relationships. The interview or survey data gathered in the course of SNA will be also used to identify those variables associated with an actor's network centrality. These variables include: perceived influence, perceived trust, commitment to local food movement, motivation to promote local food, participation in local food movement, frequency to form strategic alliance, competitive advantage, number of functions served, organization age, and the size of paid staff. The last three variables can be treated as antecedents of network centrality. The rest can be employed as consequences of network centrality. These questions will be measured either on ordinal scale (e.g., perceived influence) or ratio scale (e.g., number of paid staff). To calculate the measures of degree, betweenness and closeness, UCINET 6.109 for Windows, a social network analysis software, will be used. The map generated by UCINET will chart the structure of information exchange among organizations and illustrate the relative centrality of the organizational actors within the social network. After a single, overall measure of centrality is calculated (the average of the measures of degree, closeness, and betweenness), it will be correlated with other variables (e.g., perceived influence, size of paid staff) in SPSS. As we will examine the complex matrix of contact relationships among dozens of organizations in Vermont, each interview is expected to last about two and a half hours (including open-ended questions on the concerns and suggestions about the local food movement). If the leader of an organization cannot be located, we will try to identify a person who is familiar with the organizational communication on local food issues.