Efficiencies of bonding, bridging and linking social capital: Cleaning up after disasters in Japan

Abstract

This study clarifies how different types of social capital (SC) affect the efficiencies of waste management following a major disaster in Japan. The different forms of SC are cognitive SC which is in the form of trust or shared norms and structural SC which is in the form of networks. It presents an analysis of the effects of structural SC (bonding, bridging, and linking) on community-based waste management. Data from the coastal cities of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures were collected. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with a super-efficiency model was developed to quantify the efficiencies of various types of structural SC. The results of the study show that new SC networks were formed which in turn influenced cognitive SC. These newly formed networks rapidly decreased as communities progressed into the longer-term reconstruction phase. Linking SC produced the greatest efficiencies for earthquake waste management.