Building Inter-Organizational Social Capital Instruments to Evaluate Collaborative Networks

Janaina Macke,Rolando Vargas Vallejos,Eduardo Dalpiccoli Toss

doi:10.4236/ib.2010.21007

Abstract

This paper presents the development process of an inter-organizational social capital survey to evaluate collaborative networks. The survey instrument construction was based on three main sources. The first one, was a deep literature research that covered social capital and collaborative network issues. The second, a meta-analysis from well-known journals basically taken from the Business Source Premier Database. Finally, the third, was an exploratory research done in a Brazilian enterprise collaborative network. In this exploratory phase, we used semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis. As a result of this work, we present two instruments for inter-organizational social capital evaluation: a qualitative instrument, built in the first stage of the study and a quantitative instrument (survey) built from the results of the exploratory phase.

Highlights

In the south of Brazil, micro and small businesses represent 94.9% of formal businesses, occupying about 63%of jobs [1]
This paper presents the development process of an inter-organizational social capital survey to evaluate collaborative networks
As a result of this work, we present two instruments for inter-organizational social capital evaluation: a qualitative instrument, built in the first stage of the study and a quantitative instrument built from the results of the exploratory phase

Summary

Introduction

In the south of Brazil, micro and small businesses represent 94.9% of formal businesses, occupying about 63%. In most cases, these small companies, because of their size, face many difficulties because they do not have competitive skills and resources. The “Organizational Social Theory Group”, in which researche includes social capital, social responsibility and local development Both groups are registered in the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), in Brazil. This work aims to build an instrument (survey) to evaluate inter-organizational social capital within a collaborative network. To achieve this main purpose, we did a preliminary (exploratory) research in an enterprise collaborative network in VIRFEBRAS network. Building Inter-Organizational Social Capital Instruments to Evaluate Collaborative Networks variables to build the survey instrument

Social Capital

Motivation

Results

Final Considerations