Editorial introduction: The power of words and networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a special journal issue focusing on integrating text mining and social network analysis to better understand the influence of words within social relationships, highlighting innovative methods with business applications.

Contribution

It presents a collection of nine articles that advance the theoretical, empirical, and methodological integration of text analysis and social network analysis for practical use.

Findings

Development of new tools combining text mining and social network analysis

Enhanced understanding of how words influence social relationships

Application of methods to real-world business problems

Abstract

According to Freud "words were originally magic and to this day words have retained much of their ancient magical power". By words, behaviors are transformed and problems are solved. The way we use words reveals our intentions, goals and values. Novel tools for text analysis help understand the magical power of words. This power is multiplied, if it is combined with the study of social networks, i.e. with the analysis of relationships among social units. This special issue of the International Journal of Information Management, entitled "Combining Social Network Analysis and Text Mining: from Theory to Practice", includes heterogeneous and innovative research at the nexus of text mining and social network analysis. It aims to enrich work at the intersection of these fields, which still lags behind in theoretical, empirical, and methodological foundations. The nine articles accepted for inclusion in this special issue all present methods and tools that have business applications. They are summarized in this editorial introduction.