Mobilization capacity: Tracing the path from having networks to capturing resources

Abstract

A key puzzle in social network research is why people have networks in theory but fail to extract resources from them in practice. We propose the concept of mobilization capacity—one’s efficiency in extracting resources from networks—to help explain this gap. Mobilization capacity involves several critical microprocesses that account for what often appears as error in network models, given that having a network structure does not precisely translate into attaining outcomes. The determinants of mobilization capacity arise at actor- and relational- levels. Actor-level determinants include the actor’s willingness to seek network resources and ability to accurately locate network resources. Relational determinants involve cooperative intent in the relationship and the ability to successfully exchange resources within that interaction. Using these dimensions, we consider how actors realize or degrade their structural potential as they attempt to capture value from their networks. We conclude with an illustrative example of the Matthew effect by describing how each component of mobilization capacity compounds structural advantage, with the structurally rich enjoying efficiencies in resource extraction and the structurally poor further disadvantaged, which increases inequality.