Are They Connected? Exploring Academic and Social Networks Among MPA Students at a Chinese University

Abstract

As a complement to traditional scholarship concerned with the production, transfer, and practical utility of management knowledge in a professional graduate degree program, this paper focuses on relational benefits of MPA learning and education.¹ In this exploratory study, we investigated the extent to which academic, career advice, friendship, and socio-emotional support networks were developed among a cohort of students at a Chinese university’s MPA program. We applied a social network approach to examining the structural characteristics of the four networks. We found that MPA students at this study site have developed more extensive academic and friendship than career advice and socio-emotional support networks. Students also strengthened their interactions by building multiple relationships across the different networks.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bin Chen

Bin Chen, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College of the City University of New York. His research interests are crosssectoral governance and interorganizational collaboration, government-nonprofit relations, inter & intraorganizational network analysis, and comparative public administration and public policy. His work has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, International Public Management Journal, Public Performance & Management Review, and Nonprofit Management & Leadership. Before his academic career, he worked for the Shanghai Municipal Government in China. He can be reached at [email protected].

Feng Wang

Feng Wang, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Her research interests include neighborhood governance, environmental policy and management, and public and nonprofit management. Her papers have appeared in Public Performance & Management Review, Energy Policy, and Management and Organization Review. She can be reached at [email protected].

Jianmin Song

Jianmin Song, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Her research interests include public economics, environmental policy, and social security policy. Her papers have appeared in the Journal of Economics and the Journal of Finance and Economics. She can be reached at [email protected].