Dr Guido Conaldi BA, PGCert HE, MSc, PhD

Senior Lecturer in Economic Sociology

Guido Conaldi is currently Senior Lecturer in Economic Sociology at the Centre for Business Network Analysis, University of Greenwich, UK. He joined the University of Greenwich in 2010. Previously he was post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for Organisational Research, University of Lugano, (CH) under the supervision of Professor Alessandro Lomi.

He holds an MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Social Sciences from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. He has teaching experience in the areas of economic sociology, research methods in social sciences and social Network Analysis. He acts as executive board member for United Kingdom Social Networks Association (UKSNA) and is a member of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).

Responsibilities within the university

  • Course Leader for RESE1115 Business Research Methods (Level 4), RESE1115 Business Research Methods Ethics,
  • Coordinator of the Greenwich Summer School in Social Network Analysis

Awards

  • 2009 Paper selected for the Microsoft Award for research on the social network structures of software development, XXIX Sunbelt Social Network Conference, San Diego (CA)

Recognition

Professional activities and service

  • 2012 Executive Board Member, United Kingdom Social Networks Association (UKSNA).
  • 2011–Present Reviewer, Organisational Research Methods; Social Networks.

Professional affiliations

  • 2010–Present International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  • 2009–Present United Kingdom Social Networks Association (UKSNA).

Research / Scholarly interests

Dr Conaldi's research interests lie in the area of interpersonal and organizational social networks. His current research investigates the social mechanisms contributing to the endogenous formation of structure and hierarchy in self-managing teams. He especially looks at the impact of knowledge and collaboration networks re-configurations on team management and survival.

Key funded projects

Re-defining the Space for Companies-Communities Interaction: How Can Firms Leverage the Innovative Potential of Open Source Software Production Model?, Information Systems Dynamics (ISD).

2012-2013, International Research Programme, CIGREF Foundation (FR).

The increasing interest shown by firms toward open approaches to innovation, and Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) projects as a paramount example of this new innovation paradigm, led to the creation of a number of hybrid business models, where firms interact with online communities to sustain their innovativeness. The growth of this tendency is a remarkable shift in the way organizations operate and represent one of the trends at the top of research and managerial agenda for the next years.

The development of these new strategies, however, resulted in a number of new managerial challenges. Specifically, the definition of the relational space where individual, voluntary developers and firms interact presents a number of trade-offs. By looking over time at the interaction between a firm and a community of developers, the project will develop a conceptual model capable to integrate the relevant variables describing the interaction between firms and a community. Moreover, by observing the impact of a firm's intervention on the structure and performance of the community, considerations about the most appropriate approach to design an online firm-community interaction space will be developed.

To achieve this objective the research project will integrate different streams of research describing the functioning of F/OSS projects; specifically major contributions regarding both individual developers' characteristics and motivations will be combined with those studies focusing more on the overall structure of F/OSS projects in order to generate an innovative framework of analysis. Such an objective can be better achieved by a multi-method approach. A Social Network Analysis of online interaction between developers will be enriched by data collected through questionnaires. The results obtained will inform the development of an agent based simulation model capable to describe the evolution of systems where a firm interact with a community of developers.

Results from a similar study will be of paramount importance for both researchers and practitioners. The attempt of firms to leverage open source communities as a part of their innovation strategies is still a recent phenomenon, which needs therefore to be better researched. Moreover, in pursuing these strategies, firms rely on different types of business models, which deserve proper investigation in their specificities. Given the success and increasing relevance of F/OSS projects, managers will find the results of this study particularly relevant. A number of firms from a different set of industries is indeed trying to design the most appropriate interaction models with online communities, but this task present a number of difficulties.

The output of the project will be therefore made available to both the academic community as well as to industry representatives. This study is expected to generate a number of presentations in international conferences and at least a submission of an article to an international journal. Moreover, a case study will be produced and made available to managers in different industries through appropriate online tools.

Project Member, Opinion Leadership in Online Communication: A Business Networks Perspective.

2011-12, Research and Enterprise Investment Programme (RAE), University of Greenwich (UK).

The aim of the project was to leverage the growing interest towards online communications, to develop an innovative and unique methodology to identify key influencers and opinion leaders online. The pilot project meant to explore methodological solutions developed from a dataset grounded in one specific industry sector, but with the potential to be applied to other industries through other potential award applications.

Recent publications

Article

Tonellato, Marco , Tasselli, Stefano, Conaldi, Guido, Lerner, Jürgen , Lomi, Alessandro (2023), A microstructural approach to self-organizing: the emergence of attention networks. Informs. In: , , , . Informs, Organization Science ISSN: 1047-7039 (Print), 1526-5455 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1674).

Conaldi, Guido , De Vita, Riccardo, Ghinoi, Stefano, Foster, Dawn Marie (2023), Virtual collaborative spaces: a case study on the antecedents of collaboration in an open-source software community. Wiley. In: , , , . Wiley, R&D Management ISSN: 0033-6807 (Print), 1467-9310 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12599).

Cronin, Bruce , Perra, Nicola, Correa Da Rocha, Luis, Zhu, Zhen , Pallotti, Francesca , Gorgoni, Sara , Conaldi, Guido , De Vita, Riccardo (2020), Ethical implications of network data in business and management settings. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Social Networks, 67 . pp. 29-40 ISSN: 0378-8733 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.09.001).

Monciardini, David and , Conaldi, Guido (2019), Beneficiaries’ intermediaries in the European regulation of corporate social responsibility: Exploring the Nongovernmental organization–Investor–Union nexus. Wiley. In: , , , . Wiley, Regulation and Governance, 13 (2) . pp. 240-259 ISSN: 1748-5983 (Print), 1748-5991 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12248).

Conference item

Conaldi, Guido and , Mambrini, Francesco (2023), Generative AI paradigm shift in Higher Education: balancing myths and realities in assessment marking and design. In: SHIFT 2024: 'Inclusive Higher Education: Myths and Realities', 10th - 11th Jan, 2024, University of Greenwich, London , . , (doi: https://www.gre.ac.uk/learning-teaching/shift).

Conaldi, Guido and , Mambrini, Francesco (2023), “Please, ChatGPT, write me an essay in my own words...”: can teachers really tell their own students from bots?. In: Learning & Teaching Festival 2023 (LTF2023): Business Education into the Future, 22nd Jun, 2023, University of Greenwich, London , . , (doi: https://docs.gre.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0039/289749/ltf-conference-programme-2023.pdf).

Cronin, Bruce , Gorgoni, Sara, Conaldi, Guido, Piazza, Anna , Saint Hilaire, Antoinette , De Vita, Riccardo (2022), Productivity and innovation in remote work: a case study on the impact of organizational integration and communication on the performance of employees working from home. European Academy of Management (EURAM). In: European Academy of Management 2022 Conference, 15th - 17th June 2022, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Winterthur, Switzerland In: Reto Steiner, Suzanne Ziegler, Rémi Jardat, Eythor Ivar Jonsson (eds.), E-proceedings of the European Academy of Management 2022 Conference. ZHAW School of Management & Law, Winterthur, Switzerland, 15th - 17th June 2022. European Academy of Management (EURAM), Brussels, Belgium (1st) . ISBN: 9782960219548ISSN: 2466-7498 (Print), (doi: http://www.zhaw.ch/en/sml/euram-2022/) NB Item availability restricted.

Conaldi, Guido and , (2022), Can we teach social networks better? A preliminary reflection. In: Learning & Teaching Festival 2022 (LTF2022): Business Education without Boundaries, 23rd Jun, 2022, University of Greenwich, London , . , (doi: https://www.gre.ac.uk/bus/events/ltf).

Conference proceedings

Awad, Aya , Bartlett, Debbie, Conaldi, Guido (2021), Evaluation of development strategies and community needs in developing countries: A comparative case study of informal settlements in Asia and Africa. Springer. In: , , In: Ferdinando Trapani, Nabil Mohareb, Federica Rosso, Denia Kolokotsa, Sreetheran Maruthaveeran, Mahmoud Ghoneem (eds.), Advanced Studies in Efficient Environmental Design and City Planning. Springer, Switzerland AG Proceeding of Science and Technology (1st) . pp. 197-208 . ISBN: 9783030651800ISSN: 2522-8714 (Print), 2522-8722 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65181-7).

Sadek, Mohamed Rafik , Conaldi, Guido, Bartlett, Deborah (2019), Branding New Towns: The Case of the Greater Cairo Region, Egypt. Institute of Place Management (IPM). In: , , , 6th Corfu Symposium on Managing and Marketing Places Proceedings. Institute of Place Management (IPM), . pp. 132-136 . ISBN: 9781999845957 (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Other

Conaldi, Guido and , Mambrini, Francesco (2023), “Please, ChatGPT, write me an essay in my own words…”: can teachers really tell their students from bots?. University of Greenwich. In: , , , . University of Greenwich, London, UK (Blog post) (doi: https://blogs.gre.ac.uk/sebe/2023/10/19/please-chatgpt-write-me-an-essay-in-my-own-words-can-teachers-really-tell-their-students-from-bots/).

Working paper

Monciardini, David , Conaldi, Guido, Baiamonte, Valentina (2018), Contested Values and Competing Professional Claims in the Construction of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting. N/A. In: , , , . N/A, (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Monciardini, David and , Conaldi, Guido (2017), Exploring the NGO-Investor-Unions nexus. Intermediaries in the European multi stakeholder regulation of sustainability reporting. Guido Conaldi. In: , , , . Guido Conaldi, (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.