Closeness Centrality: A Social Network Perspective

Abstract

Although the topic of a firm’s network centrality has received significant attention in the literature, little is known about the theoretical concepts behind closeness centrality. This study reviews the definitions of closeness centrality that have been proposed by researchers. This research also provides a proposition about how a firm’s closeness centrality influences its supplier firm’s performance in a supply chain context. Our findings show that extant research has viewed closeness centrality as one of the following dimensions: the distance to other firms, the number of links to other firms, and the level of embeddedness. We found that closeness centrality has been conceptualized as a firm’s ability to efficiently gain access to information and to achieve competitive advantage.