ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of social network formation and transformation of participants and their connections in a short-term study abroad program in Japan. The social network was examined with the use of survey instruments that looked into the participants’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral relations with other people within and beyond the program. The focal program examined in this chapter exhibited a case in which the program participants formed relatively loose connections among themselves, with some participants expanding their connections beyond the program boundary. The social network has a less delineable boundary and many unique connections with nonprogram individuals. I call this type of program an ‘open network’ in this chapter, and it is contrasted with a closed network. The chapter discusses how this network turned out to be an open type by referring to the physical settings, such as the availability of common spaces that enabled people from across the campus to meet and mingle. In addition, the program design is also examined to determine what may have intensified individual differences (personality, motivation, etc.) in this program.
