The rise of syndicates: Social network analyses of construction waste haulers in Hong Kong using a novel InfoMap-XGBoost method

Abstract

In areas with a low entry barrier, small businesses tend to organize into informal syndicates to survive or thrive. However, there is little empirical evidence to show how these syndicates evolve, and ultimately, impact business and environment. This research investigates syndicates evolving among construction waste haulers in Hong Kong and their broad impacts. It does so by applying a novel social network analysis (SNA) framework named InfoMap-XGBoost to a big data set covering over 10 million payload trips conducted by waste haulers over the past 10 years. Our analyses show that (a) syndicates spontaneously emerge as the whole social network expands by merging with each other; (b) occupying a higher centrality within the syndicate is more significant than joining a larger syndicate in helping actors receive more hauling orders with bigger values; (c) larger and denser syndicates help alleviate adverse environmental impact by improving the overall business efficiency.