Networks, Knowledge Brokers, and the Public Policymaking Process

Social network analysis provides a meaningful lens for advancing a more nuanced understanding of the communication networks and practices that bring together policy advocates and practitioners in their day-to-day efforts to broker evidence into policymaking processes. 

This book advances knowledge brokerage scholarship and methodology as applied to policymaking contexts, focusing on the ways in which knowledge and research are utilized, and go on to influence policy and practice decisions across domains, including communication, health and education. There is a growing recognition that knowledge brokers – key intermediaries – have an important role in calling attention to research evidence that can facilitate the successful implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices. The chapters in this volume focus explicitly on the history of knowledge brokerage research in these contexts and the frameworks and methodologies that bridge these disparate domains. The contributors to this volume offer useful typologies of knowledge brokerage and explicate the range of causal mechanisms that enable knowledge brokers’ influence on policymaking. The work included in this volume responds to this emerging interest  by comparing, assessing, and delineating social network approaches to knowledge brokerage across domains.

The book is a useful resource for students and scholars of social network analysis and policymaking, including in health, communication, public policy and education policy.

Matthew Weber (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Matthew is a computational social scientist and an expert on media ecosystems, organizational dynamics and the use of Big data in research. His research explores processes of organizational change and adaptation, with a focus on understanding how organizations navigate complex information ecosystems in order to develop evidence-informed policies and policymaking processes. Matthew’s work has been widely published in leading academic journals, as well as in the popular press, and is funded by grants from a number of federal agencies including the National Science Foundation.

Itzhak Yanovitzky (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Communication at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. His program of research explores effective mechanisms for improving the dissemination and implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices and building the capacity of community organizations to communicate effectively about health and wellness issues. Dr. Yanovitzky is an expert in the area of behavior change, public policymaking and translational science, and is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication.