Investigating the knowledge flow between farmers and other actors in the poplar wood ‎‎value chain using social network analysis‏:‏‎ An Empirical Case

Considering the growing need of industries for lignocellulosic raw materials and the ecosystem services that poplar cultivation has, the development of poplar cultivation is vital. However, there are obstacles to its development. One of these barriers is the absence of optimal knowledge flow between producers and consumers. It was correlational and descriptive research that, with the help of an innovative approach, prescribes the use of social network analysis for the first time in order to analyze the knowledge flow between the actors of the poplar value chain. The data was collected through a questionnaire and in the form of face-to-face interviews, and social network analysis was done on the Gephi software. The average of weighted degree, closeness centrality, hub, clustering coefficient, and eigenvector centrality for farmers was more than the average of the overall network; only the average of betweenness centrality was lower than the average of the overall network. The results highlighted knowledge flow‎ problems in the value chain. As a practical suggestion, relevant managers are encouraged to evaluate the value chain through social network analysis and strengthen the main channels of knowledge flow.