409
1 INTRODUCTION
BIMCO and ISF study the supply and demand for
seafarerhumanresourcesonceevery five years.The
research report “MANPOWER UPDATE” has been
shown to be the most comprehensive assessment of
global supply and demand for merchant seafarers
available. They have two purposes. The first is to
describe the current worldwide supply and demand
situation with regard to seafarers. The second is to
ma
kepredictionsaboutthesituation5–10yearsinthe
future,inorderto assist theindustry inanticipating
changes and taking appropriate action. The
aforementioned report has been constantly updated
since1995,whenevidencewasfoundofa significant
shortageofofficers.
Maritime educational inst
itutes have a social
missiontosupplymaritimeexpertstoconsumers(i.e.,
maritime companies). Additionally, suppliers and
consumers need to exchange information for the
employment of maritime experts. However, this
communication requires a relationship (social
network) between the supplier and the consumer.
Invest
igationofthestatusofthesesocialnetworksin
maritimeeducationalinstitutesisveryimportantwith
regardtothesupplyofhumanresources.
The objective of this study is to quantify the
current status of social networks used by maritime
educational institutions for communication with
companies.Thisstudyexploresthefactorstha
taffect
socialnetworks.
A Study of Social Networks for Maritime Education and
Training
T.Takimoto
KobeUniversityGraduateSchoolofMaritimeScience,Japan
M.Furusho
KobeUniversityFacilityofMaritimeScience,Japan
ABSTRACT:Thisstudyanalyzestheroleplayedbysocialnetworksinmaritimeeducationandtraining.The
objectiveofthisstudyistoinvestigatetheshortageofseafarersinmaritimeglobaltransportation,asmentioned
by the BIMCO. The authors divide the processes of maritime education and training int
o two categories:
“Maritime educational institute” and “Maritime Company.” These are not systematically connected but are
foundintheprocesses between socialnetworks;ithas the socialnetworksto both. Therefore, teaching staff
members,intheirrolesasjobadvisorsin“Maritimeeducationalinstitutes,”usesocialnetworksinconjunction
with “Marit
imecompanies.” The teaching staff members communicatewith students using these processes.
Theteachingstaffsarethecarriersinregardtohowtheseprocessesarerelated.Thisstudysurveyedaspectsof
“personality” and “social networks”pertaining toteaching staffs and quantitatively analyzed the processes
relatedtosocialnetworks.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 10
Number 3
September 2016
DOI:10.12716/1001.10.03.05
410
2 SOCIALNETWORKS
2.1 Socialnetworks
A social network is a concept of virtualized
relationships between actors in social science. It is
able to confirm the interrelationship between
individuals, organizations, and groups. Putnam
(2000) made several important statements on social
networks. He classified the aforementioned
relationship into three main factors:
“Network,”
“Trust”and“Precept.”
Granovetter studied the problems with social
networksin1973.Hisstudy clarified thatafunction
ofsocialnetworkingistofacilitatejobseeking.Public
and private outplacement services as well as
“introductions”and“personalconnections”affectthe
motivationtochangejobs.Granovetter revealed that
inthe
U.S.,successfuljobchangeisfacilitatedthrough
“strongrelationships”withthefamily,relatives,and
closefriends(Granovetter1973).
Burt (1992) analyzed the network structure of
brokers.Brokers(mediator)havetwoactivities.First,
theyfindthegapinthenetworkthatdoesnotexistin
the relationship. Second, as mediators, they control
the flow of information and resources. Burt argued
about the benefits of connecting weak relationships
andnorelationships.
Todetermine thesocial valueof an organization,
must study the situation with regard to its social
network.
2.2 ThehumanresourcesupplychaininMaritime
EducationandTraining
Supply Chain Management
(SCM) is a product
supply concept that is used in production
management of industry. SCM is a set of process
flows from procurement of raw materials, to
production, to shipping, to sales. Another definition
of SCM is provided by the APICS Dictionary:
“designing, planning, executing, controlling, and
monitoring of supply chain
activities with the
objectiveofcreatingnetvalue,buildingacompetitive
infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics,
synchronizing supply with demand and measuring
performanceglobally.”Thereisaproductionprocess
for not only general products but also human
resources for seafarers. Therefore, Maritime
Education and Training (MET) can be divided into
several
processesusingtheconceptofSCM.
MET can be classified into two main processes:
“Maritime educational institute” and “Maritime
company.” The “Maritime educational institute”
process is a process for gaining specialized
knowledge and technology for becoming a seafarer
andmaritime expert.Maritime universities,colleges,
andtechnical schoolsare classified under “Maritime
educational institute.” Maritime educational
institutions train students using theoretical and
practical methods with the aim of cultivating
maritime experts. Students have to make a concrete
decision about whether they want to become
seafarers, work in the maritime industry, or goto a
higher‐education institute during this process. The
“Maritime
company” process is the process of
working in a company (e.g., shipping companies,
shipbuilders,maritimeindustries).
2.3 Gapbetweenprocesses
This study examines the macroscopic maritime
educationalprocessformaritimeexperts.However,it
does not have strict integrity; these processes are
individualandindependent.Therefore,thereisagap
between each
process. A social network needs to
complement these gaps. Therefore, each process
requires cooperation based on common goals and
interests. The common goals between “Maritime
educationalinstitute”and“Maritimecompanies”are
jobseekingandrecruiting.
2.4 Personalsocialnetworksinaprocess
Tocommunicate is necessarythe relationshipthat is
eitheralreadyhavingasocialnetworkorconnectinga
new relationship. This is similar to communication
with individuals, organizations, and processes.
Individuals and individual members are working in
these.Tosocialnetworkoftheorganizationreplaces
personal social networks. Figure 1 indicates the
relationshipbetweenaschoolandsomecompanies.It
is assumed that there is already a relationship
betweentheschoolandthecompanies.Itisclearthat
the relationship between organizations or groups is
an“apparent”relationship.However,therelationship
betweenthestaffoftheschoolandthecompanyisa
personal or “real relationship.” All members of
organizations
have their own personal social
networks. It is possible to determine the social
attractiveness of an organization by learning about
thepersonalsocialnetworksinanorganization.
3 SURVEY
3.1 Definingkeyword
Inthisstudy,wedefineapersonalsocialnetworkas
the social network of an organization. Additionally,
two factors
that affect personal social networks are
reviewed:qualityandquantityfactors.
3.1.1 Teachingstaffpersonalityasqualityfactor
Teaching staff members tend to have a wide
varietyofbackgroundsproportionaltotheirage.This
backgroundisthecareerexperienceofworking. Age
affectslifeexperience.“Career”canbeclassifiedinto
twomain groups:educational careerat an academic
institution,andprofessionalcareerinacompany.The
authorreferstoageandcareeras“qualityfactors.”
411
Figure1Apparentrelationshipandrealrelationship
3.1.2 Quantityfactoraseducationalinstitution’ssize
Teaching staff members interact with each other
andwithstudentseveryday.Thisrelationshipcanbe
further divided into horizontal and vertical
relationships. The horizontal relationship denotes
beingabletobuildanewrelationshipasamediator
withothermembersoftheteaching
staff.Thevertical
relationship denotes being able to build a new
hierarchicalrelationship,forexample,therelationship
betweenseniorsandjuniors. Horizontal andvertical
relationships are analyzed by investigating the
numberofteachingstaffmembersandstudents.The
authorreferstothenumberofteachingstaffmembers
andstudentsas“quantity
factors.”
3.2 Researchmethods
Aquestionnairewasusedtocollectdatainthisstudy.
There were two reasons for doing so. First, a
consistent quality of survey responses was needed.
Second, survey targets were available in several
differentcountries.Thequestionnairewascomposed
of 41 questions concerning the aforementioned
quantity
and quality factors. It was administered to
224 teaching staff members at random via e‐mail in
maritimeeducationalinstitutionsin31countriesand
regions.
3.3 Results
Theauthorwasabletoobtaindataoveratwo‐month
period.Datawereobtainedfrom39peopleoutof19
countries.Theresponse
ratewas17%.Thefollowing
isalistofregionalgroupsthatsubmittedresponsesto
thequestionnaire(theregionsweregroupedusingthe
informal setting of the United Nations). “Western
EuropeanandOthers”accountedforabout54%ofthe
responses.
Figure3.Proportionofrespondentsbyarea
TheAsia‐Pacificgroupcomprisedabout31%.The
Eastern European group comprised about 8%. The
Africagroupcomprisedabout8%.Theauthorcould
not obtain responses from the Latin American and
Caribbeangroups.Figure3indicatesthearearatioof
respondents.
4 ANALYSISOFSOCIALNETWORKS
4.1 Dataanalysis
Thedata
acquiredduringthisresearchwereanalyzed
usingstatisticalanalysismethods,namelytheSTATA
for Windows program, 12th version. The following
data methods for analyzing quantitative descriptive
statistics were used: cross tabulation and correlation
analysis using the linear regression method. The
significance level was set at 5% in this analysis. All
412
missing values in the data were excluded before
analysis.
4.2 Situationofsocialnetworks
Inordertodeterminethestatusofsocialnetworking
among teaching staff, 41 questions were asked.
Numberofcompaniesaspersonalrelationshipasked
frombetween0 and50by5steps.Theresultsshowed
thatpersonal
socialnetworksconnectedanaverageof
20.8companies.Themedianvaluewas16companies.
In the data, social networkstended towards smaller
networks.
Figure4.Agedistributionoftherespondents
4.3 Personalityasqualityfactor
4.3.1 Ageasqualityfactor
Timegivesonetheopportunitytodomanythings.
Toputitplainly,apersongainsexperiencewithage.
Thistimeelementisabletoreplacetotheageofthe
teaching staff. The sizeof the social network by age
wasanalyzing.Theagevaluehadanaveragevalueof
47.8years,andthemedianvaluewas45years.There
was no group of respondents in their 20’s. Figure 4
indicatestheagestructureoftherespondents.
Table 1 shows the result of the relationship
between age and social networks.
The p‐value was
6.7%, which is greater than the significance level at
5%.Accordingtothesefindings,ageisthereforenot
significantwithregardtosocialnetworks.
Table1.Relationshipbetweenageandsocialnetworks
4.3.2 Educationalcareerasqualityfactor
ThesurveyresultswereplottedinFigure5using
diamonds in order to analyze the relationship
betweensocialnetworksandtheeducationalcareers
oftherespondents.
The educational careers of respondents averaged
15.7years,withamedian14ofyears.Table2shows
the results
of a detailed analysis of educational
careers. The p‐va lue was 26%, and the adjusted R‐
square was 0.068. The p‐value was greater than the
significance level at 5%. The significance was
therefore not confirmed from an educational career
standpoint.
Figure5. Results of survey of educational career and
professionalcareer
Table2.Relationshipbetweeneducationalcareerandsocial
networks
4.3.3 Professionalcareerasqualityfactor
Survey results were plotted in Figure 5 using
squares. The professional careers of the respondents
averaged8.4yearswithamedianof4years.Table3
illustratesthedetailedresultsof professional careers
and social networks. The p‐value for professional
career was 0.0%.
The adjusted R‐squared of the
coefficient was determined to be 0.23. Significance
was confirmed from the standpoint of professional
career. The p‐value was lower than the significance
level at 5%. Significance was confirmed for
professionalcareer.
413
Table3.Relationshipbetweenprofessionalcareerandsocial
networks
Thesurveyresultsfortotalcareerwereplottedin
Figure 6. Table 4 provides detailed results. The p‐
valuewas0.2%.AdjustedR‐squaredofthecoefficient
ofdeterminationwas0.261.Thesignificancewasalso
confirmedfromthetotalcareer.
Figure6. Relationship of total career and personal social
network
4.4 Sizeofeducationalinstitutionasquantityfactor
4.4.1 Numberofteachingstaffmembersasquantity
factor
ThesurveyresultswereplottedinFigure7using
diamondsinordertoanalyzethenumberofteaching
staffmembers.Thenumberofteachingstaffmembers
averaged54.7,withamedia nof49.Table
5showsthe
resultsofdetailedanalysisofthenumberofteaching
staff.TheadjustedR‐squaredwas‐0.043.Significance
was therefore not confirmed for number of teaching
staffmembers.
Table5. Relationship between number of teaching staff
membersandsocialnetworks
Figure7. Relationship between number of teaching staffs
andstudents
4.4.2 Numberofstudentsasquantityfactor
Survey results were plotted in Figure 7 using
squares in order to analyze the number ofstudents.
Thenumber ofstudentsaveraged196persons,witha
medianof100.Table6showstheresultsofadetailed
analysis of the number of students. The
adjusted R‐
squaredofthecoefficientofdeterminationwas0.125.
Thep‐value was lower thanthe significancelevel at
5%.Thus,significancewasconfirmedforthenumber
ofstudents.
Table6. Results of the relationship between number of
studentsandsocialnetwork
414
4.5 Discussion
At present, it may be usefulto look more closely at
some of the more important features of the critical
factors that affect social networks. In order to
calculate the Pearson’s product‐moment correlation
coefficientanalyzingthesefactors.
Table 7 shows the results of the correlation
coefficients for
professional career, number of
students, and social network (professional career
group). Table 8 shows the results of correlation
coefficientsfor total career, number of students, and
socialnetwork(totalcareergroup).
It was found that professional career had a
correlation coefficient at 0.5011, and number of
studentshadacorrelation
coefficientof0.3896.Total
career had a correlation coefficient of 0.5347, and
number of students had a correlation coefficient of
0.3896.Finally,theprofessionalcareergroupandthe
totalcareergrouphadasignificancelevelof5%.
These results clarified the role played by social
networks in the relationship between teaching
staffs
andcompanies.Thefactorsoftheprofessionalcareer
of teaching staffs and the number of students were
also confirmed. The professional career builds the
socialnetwork.Itisastrongeffectbythecareerinthe
company. It seems reasonable to suppose that the
company expand the personal networks
by the job
and the role with the external. The number of
studentsalsobuildsthesocialnetwork.Thiseffectis
weaker than professional career. The teaching staff
can cultivate relationships with students, recruiting
companiesandthegraduatesofdifferentgenerations,
if there are many students in the school. However,
this
is a debatable point. These details are required
thepanelsurveytowideandlong‐term.
Table7. Result of correlation coefficient of Professional
career,numberofstudentandSocialnetworks
*p<0.05
Table8. Result of correlation coefficient of Total career,
numberofstudentandSocialnetworks
*p<0.05
5 CONCLUSION
This study examined the role of social networks in
maritimeeducationalinstitutions.
Itwasfoundthatthepersonalsocialnetworksof
theteachingstaffinmaritimeeducationalinstitutions
are affected by their professional career and by the
number of students. Granovetter (1973) and Burt
(1992)discussedthe
issueoftherelationshipbetween
socialnetworksandemployment.However,changing
thenumberofstudentsisdifficult.Itisimportantthe
socialperformanceoftheteachingstaffforthatkeep
orincreasethesocialnetworksunderthecondition.
In maritime educational institutions, it is
increasingly the case that students do not
want to
become seafaring officers. The results of surveys by
BIMCO have confirmed this. The supply human
resources need the new social network which was
connecttothevariousquartersthatisnotonlytothe
seafarer. These connections will provide the
infrastructureofgenerateanewidentityformaritime
educationalinstitutions.
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