Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Xie WJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4705466 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Scientific reports 20160108
Much empirical evidence shows that individuals usually exhibit significant homophily in social networks. We demonstrate, however, skill complementarity enhances heterophily in the formation of collaboration networks, where people prefer to forge social ties with people who have professions different from their own. We construct a model to quantify the heterophily by assuming that individuals choose collaborators to maximize utility. Using a huge database of online societies, we find evidence of ...[more]