Social Networks Analysis in Accounting and Finance

Abstract

Social network analysis (SNA) examines whether interactions between individuals, teams, and organizations result in network structures that can explain important outcomes, including performance, behaviors, and beliefs. We summarize the elements of SNA, conduct a review of SNA research published in top accounting and finance journals between 2000 and 2021, and offer a roadmap that may help this literature to move forward. We focus on 140 archival studies from four broad streams of literature –financial, corporate governance, auditing, and investors’ networks– and classify them as structural capital, resource access, contagion, or environmental shaping SNA research, using the framework by Borgatti and Foster (2003). We also provide a thematic discussion of the context and contribution of SNA, including theoretical foundations, main findings, opportunities, and challenges for future studies. Finally, we include an empirical illustration of the key concepts and tools of SNA. We believe that SNA will continue to offer an interesting avenue to conduct high-impact and cross-disciplinary research in accounting and finance.

Keywords: social network analysis, networks, board interlocks, corporate links, social capital, literature review

JEL Classification: M4, M40, M41, M42, M49