Identifying influential node groups in networks with core-periphery structure

TL;DR

This paper investigates the structural conditions under which core nodes in networks with core-periphery structure become influential, focusing on internal and external connectivity patterns and their impact on influence distribution.

Contribution

It identifies the role of internal and external core connectivity in determining node influence, providing a structural criterion for influential cores in networks.

Findings

Internal core connectivity correlates positively with influence.

External core connectivity influences influence up to a threshold.

Model networks confirm real-world observations.

Abstract

Identifying influential spreaders is a crucial problem for practical applications in network science. The core-periphery(C-P) structure, common in many real-world networks, comprises a densely interconnected group of nodes(core) and the rest of the sparsely connected nodes subordinated to the core(periphery). Core nodes are expected to be more influential than periphery nodes generally, but recent studies suggest that this is not the case in some networks. In this work, we look for mesostructural conditions that arise when core nodes are significantly more influential than periphery nodes. In particular, we investigate the roles of the internal and external connectivity of cores in their relative influence. We observe that the internal and external connectivity of cores are broadly distributed, and the relative influence of the cores is also broadly distributed in real-world networks. Our key finding is that the internal connectivity of cores is positively correlated with their relative influence, whereas the relative influence increases up to a certain value of the external connectivity and decreases thereafter. Finally, results from the model-generated networks clarify the observations from the real-world networks. Our findings provide a structural condition for influential cores in networks and shed light on why some cores are influential and others are not.