The Contribution of Social Capital to Entrepreneurial Activities’ Success: Across-Country Field Study in the Light of Social Capital Theory

ABSTRACTAs users have flocked to social network sites (SNSs), these sites have gained tremendous scale and concomitant social influence. This growth has come at the cost of social disruption caused by the posting of abusive comments and rumours that turn out to be false. To combat these negative phenomena, this study proposes SNS citizenship behaviour and examines it from the perspective of social capital theory. This study further examines how the key characteristics of SNS in terms of the concept of customer value affect social capital development in an SNS context. The test results explain that the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital have significant direct and indirect effects on the SNS citizenship behaviour. These findings also explain that four key characteristics (exploration, communication support, playfulness, and responsiveness) of SNS affect the three dimensions of social capital. This study contributes to the literature in its establishment of the concept of SNS citizenship behaviour and examines it from the social capital theory perspective. Its findings have practical implications through its guidance on how to develop SNS features and manage these sites for the citizenship behaviour of their users, which are achievements for the harmonious and effective functioning of SNS.

This paper seeks to identify the characteristics of refugee-entrepreneurial startups, which distinguish them from other immigrant entrepreneurial ventures. The author employed a single case analysis as a means of qualitative research into the phenomenon under study, from the perspective of social capital theory. A typical case of a refugee entrepreneur was selected based on his propensity to tell his story in a way that transparently reveals the various peculiarities of his entrepreneurial behavior. The case study involved the use of interviews with key individuals, the review of printed materials, and member checking. The findings revealed five distinctive attributes that characterized that startup and which corresponded to the three dimensions of social capital. Those attributes were: a ‘one-way-ahead’ attitude, a pseudo family business perception, collective bootstrapping, a distinct network structure, and opportunity-seizing proliferation, thereby depicting how social capital is used by refugee-entrepreneurs to maximize the pool of opportunities in their host nations.

This virtual platform study enhances the building of stronger social communities. It researches the influence of end-user motives on social relationship dimensions by highlighting the mediating pathways of social connectivities. Developers and businesses can enlist the findings to customise their virtual end-user-targeted solutions and then deliver value-added virtual services and products. The relationship between end-user motives and the formation of social capital remains critical in understanding casual influences; however, there has been no previous research looking at this relationship by considering social connectivities. Previous research on end-user motives and social capital within one type of online gaming environment indicated some driving factors behind the development and formation of social capital in virtual worlds. This study focuses on active end-users participating in one of three substantive virtual world platforms to examine whether end-user motives influence their social capital dimensions. Three basic theories—gratification, social relationship and social capital—underpin this study's social capital motives model. In this model, end-user motive antecedents— achievement, control, escapism and friendship—are linked to social connectivities through bridging and bonding, which, in turn, are linked to the social capital's cognitive, relational and structural dimensions. An online global survey in English provided 274 valid and usable cases from three different virtual worlds. A quantitative approach is used to test the proposed research framework model. The resulting empirically tested social capital motives model was bootstrap-validated using AMOS 22. The model delivered a high-quality fit across all relevant fit indices. The social capital motives model verified 12 hypothesised paths as significant and theoretically justified. Here, achievement and escapism show a significant positive effect on bridging social connectivities, whereas control, escapism and friendship show a significant positive effect on bonding social connectivities. Next, bridging social connectivities shows a strong positive effect on bonding social connectivities. Bridging social connectivities also offers a positive influence on cognitive social capital. Bonding social connectivities positively affects cognitive, relational and structural social capital dimensions. Finally, both the cognitive and structural dimensions are found to have a significant effect on the resulting relational social capital dimension. The social capital motives model contributes to research within international business (particularly virtual world businesses and social media) and information technology platforms. Theoretically, this study's two-stage Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) path model integrates three theories and redefines bonding and bridging as social connectivities. This study shows end-user motives can indirectly influence social capital dimensions through social connectivities. Thus, researchers investigating the formulation of social capital in virtual worlds can apply the social capital motives model as a starting point when developing their more advance social capital research models. Businesses can engage the social capital motives model to further motivate their end-users to generate greater social capital, which, in turn, will strengthen interactions among existing end-users and, consequently, attract new end-users.

Effects of social capital on academic success: A narrative synthesis

This article contributes to the discussion on the sustainability of the sharing economy by adopting the Social Capital Theory to expand explanations of the sharing economy’s role and scope of relations with local communities in the context of overtourism. As mutual relationships have not been fully recognized through a theoretical perspective, the article aims to examine the sustainability of the process of the sharing economy impacting urban tourism communities in light of Robert Putnam’s approach to Social Capital Theory. On the basis of a selective systematic review, the article discusses the sustainability of the sharing economy through the lens of bridging and bonding social capital. We argue that a new configuration of social capital, i.e., a sharing platform-modified social capital, arises from the unsustainable and disruptive power of the sharing economy implemented by virtual platforms, thereby contributing to an overtourism syndrome. However, from a medium- and long-term perspective, the sharing economy also impacts the bridging nature of social capital, which should lead to a more sustainable balance in its structure. This initial framework for understanding the impact of the sharing economy on sustainability of local communities provides an alternative approach to studying residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards tourism in the areas affected by overtourism.

The research aimed at studying social capital role in land degradation solving of Tulis watershed. The parameters under observation were social capital (trust, norm, and social networking), social-economic condition, and land management in Tulis watershed. The parameters were achieved by using data triangulation principle. The analysis used was Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The model used five variables, which were social capital (X1), society structure (X2), land using conflict (Y1), land management strategy (Y2), and land degradation (Y3). Perspective of social capital theory could be used to explain the interaction between society socio-cultural behaviors and land degradation of Tulis watershed. The model proved that society structure with effective social capital, low conflict in land using, and good land management strategy afforded to decrease land degradation of Tulis watershed.

The wide resonance achieved by the notion of social capital among social scientists suggests that the term serve important purposes of analysis in current social thought. The focus of the study was the impact of social capital on political participation in Lithuania. The method of study was survey sample data and scientific literature analysis. The results of analysis reflects rather weak relationship between certain social capital dimensions and political participation, what could be a result of past communist legacy: persistence of friendship networks, closed nature of social networks, low level of interpersonal and institutional trust. Data analysis confirm an assumption that social capital dimensions have the bigger impact on collective political acts than on individual political acts. Membership in nongovernmental organizations has the biggest impact on collective political actions and it supports Putnam’s social capital theory. Frequency of conversations on political and social matters has the biggest impact on individual collective acts and rather low on collective acts.

Rural areas are crucial to the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Rural social capital is indispensable for these areas to fulfil the SDGs. As China pursues rural revitalization, it is essential to achieve the sustainable development of rural areas within the agropastoral transition zone (APTZ) in northern China. The same applies to the SDGs’ realization in other APTZs across the globe. From the micro perspective of individual farmers and herdsmen, this article collected 732 microscopic datapoints through repeated rural surveys, and adopted the multivariate ordered probit model to empirically analyze how the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in northern China’s APTZ was affected by the individual (person) and collective (community) layers of rural social capital. Specifically, the production mode was introduced to study the relationship between social capital and subjective well-being, and social capital was measured by a self-designed theoretical analysis framework, which covered six dimensions and two layers (person and community). It was verified that the individual social capital and collective social capital were mutually replaceable in terms of the effect on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen. Additionally, this article examined the influence of different production modes on the social capital and subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, and discussed how the same amount of social capital contributes differently to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen under different production models. The results showed that: (1) Social capital significantly promoted the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, and social network was the leading contributor among the dimensions of individual social capital, while social trust was the leading contributor among the dimensions of collective social capital. By the contribution to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, the six dimensions of social capital can be ranked as social network > social trust > social participation > social standard > social fame > common vision. (2) Individual social capital and collective social capital were mutually replaceable in terms of enhancing the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen; when the individual social capital was insufficient, the collective social capital would exert a much greater influence on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen; when the individual social capital grows, the farmers and herdsmen would depend less on collective social capital. (3) The same amount of social capital contributes differently to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen under different production models; by contribution strength, the production models can be ranked as pure herdsmen (PH) > pure farmers (PF) > non-farmers/herdsmen (NFH) > farmers + herdsmen (FH). Finally, several policy suggestions were provided to improve the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in APTZ. The results show that collective social capital eliminates the negative effect of individual social capital shortage on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen. Thus, it is suggested to consider not only the construction of macroscopic hardware environment, but also to roll out policies and measures to improve the subjective well-being from the micro perspective of farmers and herdsmen. These suggestions are concentrated on the implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy, and the creation of relevant institutions and cultural environments, as well as the optimization of the internal hierarchy of farmers and herdsmen’s social capital. The research results may help to promote the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in rural areas within the APTZs of China and the world, and provide a reference and a path to realize SDGs in China and similar places across the globe.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social resources on promoting information sharing practice and, thereby, improving firm performance. In particular, the authors are interested in addressing the following research questions. First, can the development of social capital (expressed in three dimensions: cognitive capital, structural capital, and relational capital) promote the content and quality of supply chain information sharing? Second, what are the relationships among the three social capital dimensions in the context of information sharing? Third, what are the effects of shared information (content and quality) on firm performance?Design/methodology/approach– A theoretical model and several research hypotheses, well-grounded in the western literature, are developed. Data from 272 manufacturers in China were collected to test the model and the hypotheses. Structural equation modeling was used for statistical analysis.Findings– The statistical results reveal that each social capital dimension has different effects on information sharing and performance. Namely, relational capital and cognitive capital have significant positive influences on information sharing. Structural capital has no direct positive impact on information sharing, but it displays indirect affects through the other two social capital dimensions. Furthermore, both the content and quality of the shared information improve manufacturing efficiency and responsiveness performance. Finally, the paper also recognizes possible reciprocal causality between relational capital and cognitive capital.Research limitations/implications– First, considering the distinct role of social relations in China, future studies should examine the influence of social capital and the potential reciprocal relationship between trust and shared vision, using data from other countries. Second, data were collected solely from the Pearl River Delta, China. Studies based on samples drawn from other regions, such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Sea economic area, and southwest China, would provide a degree of geographic and economic diversity and extend the generalizability of the results.Practical implications– Despite the touting of the value of information sharing, many companies struggle with the practice. The findings help us understand the process by which social capital accumulates and contributes to information sharing. Namely, firms must first engage in social interactions with supply chain partners in order to develop a trusting relationship and a shared vision for information sharing. The managers must also be aware of the possible reciprocal relationship between trust and shared vision. Both the volume and content of information sharing are critical to the performance.Social implications– Manufacturers can use the concept of social capital to build relational rents for information sharing.Originality/value– Responding to the call from the literature, this study extends the discussion of antecedents and consequences of supply chain information sharing, with a focus on the influences of relational resources. The paper proves that social capital provides a valid theoretical base from which to examine the role of social relations in promoting supply chain information sharing. Previous supply chain research in social capital often limited its consideration of social capital to relational capital. Understanding the effects of all three dimensions of social capital and their inter-relationships would contribute to the process by which social capital accumulates and promotes information sharing. Additionally, a study with the Chinese data should validate the theoretical model developed based on western literature, and offer valuable insights to researchers and practitioners from both economic and cultural perspectives.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how the different dimensions of project members’ intra-organizational social capital – cognitive, affective and relational – facilitate knowledge integration in project-based organizations, and how knowledge integration, in turn, impacts explorative and exploitative learning.Design/methodology/approachBased on an analysis of 129 R&D Spanish organizations, the study analyzes the interconnections between the different dimensions of social capital and how they affect to knowledge integration as antecedent of explorative and exploitative learning in project-based organizations.FindingsResults confirm that knowledge integration is beneficial for both exploratory and exploitive learning and thus that R&D organizations may be thus ambidextrous in their knowledge management. Related to the three dimensions of social capital, only the cognitive dimension (shared vision) has a significant impact on knowledge integration. However, the analysis confirms the interconnections between the three dimensions of social capital: the relational dimension (social interaction ties) and the cognitive dimension (shared vision) have significant effect on the relational one (trust), and the relational dimension also has an influence on the cognitive dimension. The model proposed in this study thus shows an acceptable capacity to discern the different influence of the dimensions of internal social capital on knowledge integration and, subsequently, ambidextrous learning.Originality/valueThis paper examines the importance of intra-organizational social capital, in terms of their cognitive (shared vision), relational (trust) and structural (social interaction ties) dimensions, for explorative and exploitative learning in project-based organizations. The analysis takes the baton of previous literature where is suggested that the three dimensions of social capital are interlocked and not just need to be considered simultaneously.

The sharing economy platforms facilitate collaboration across geographical boundaries and promote service innovation by reshaping traditional business networks. This study takes a Social Capital Theory perspective on how Social Capital (SC) is created on professional sharing economy platforms, with particular attention to the creative services industry. Our in-depth qualitative investigation draws on 35 interviews with freelance designers and platform clients based in 17 different countries. The study demonstrates that SC created outside sharing economy platforms is not readily transferred to these platforms, which represents a major difference from the dynamics of SC in more traditional settings. Furthermore, SC transfer between platforms is difficult. Building platform-specific SC ‘from scratch’ requires a significant effort and is highly dependent on reputation systems, in the form of ratings and reviews. We argue that the platforms’ reputation systems force members to become ‘slaves’ to ensuring their star ratings and reviews are as good as possible. In addition, we explore how platform members learn to build SC on the platforms beyond ratings and reviews. Overall, the study contributes to academic discussions on opportunities and challenges for service innovation within the sharing economy and introduces the application of Social Capital Theory to the context of sharing economy platforms.

The social capital and attachment theory are employed to theoretically define the relationships between three social capital dimensions (trust, interaction density and cooperation), three-dimensional emotional attachment (affection, passion and connection) and organizational innovation – by considering the organizational climate as a potential moderator. This study proposes a) social capital and emotional attachment contribution to organizational innovation b) moderating role of organizational climate in the relationship between social capital, emotional attachment and organizational innovation. The suggestions conclude that keeping an account of employees’ social capital and emotional attachment may help the organization to take an innovative position in the market.

This study aims to examine the role of social capital dimensions (e.g., structural, relational, and cognitive) in influencing business transformation among new Chinese chambers of commerce in Thailand towards cultural preservation. A total of 525 members of the new Chinese chambers of commerce participated in Thailand. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the research hypotheses. Structural social capital has a positive and significant effect on relational social capital and cognitive social capital. Cognitive social capital also has a positive and significant effect on relational social capital. Furthermore, social capital dimensions (e.g., structural, cognitive, and relational social capital) also have a positive and significant effect on business transformation directly and indirectly towards culture preservation. The findings advance both theoretical knowledge and practical applications, offering insights for businesses and policymakers seeking to leverage social capital for sustainable transformation and long-term success. Social capital dimensions can enhance innovation, facilitate organizational change, and promote flexibility in an increasingly complex and competitive business environment across cultures, industries, and organizational settings.

PurposeThis study aims to empirically examine how the perception of social capital in work teams motivates individuals to proactively seek tacit knowledge from teammates and the subsequent impact on individual creative performance. In addition, it offers an empirical validation of interrelationships between the different sub-dimensions of social capital.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based survey was used, and data were collected from 437 professionals working in the information technology (IT) sector. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS 22 was used for hypothesis testing.FindingsAs per the findings of the study, all social capital dimensions, except shared language and benevolence-based trust, demonstrate a significant positive influence on tacit knowledge-seeking behaviour of employees. The results also provide evidence that point to a significant positive relationship between tacit knowledge-seeking behaviour and the creative performance of employees. Further, a significant positive interrelationship between different social capital dimensions is confirmed.Originality/valueAs per the findings of the study, all social capital dimensions, except shared language and benevolence-based trust, demonstrate a significant positive influence on tacit knowledge-seeking behaviour of employees. The results also provide evidence that point to a significant positive relationship between tacit knowledge-seeking behaviour and the creative performance of employees. Further, a significant positive interrelationship between different social capital dimensions is confirmed.

Most research on entrepreneurial activities and institutions focuses on identifying certain relationships between formal and informal institutions and entrepreneurship across economies. In this study, we advance entrepreneurship research by examining how social capital as a characteristic of the institutional environment affects the relationship between formal and informal institutions and entrepreneurial activities, differentially, in developing and developed economies. Supporting institutional theory and social capital theory, the results from our sample of 39 countries from 2001 to 2014, which contains over 30,000 identified individuals, indicate that social capital has a stronger influence in the relations between institutions and entrepreneurship. In developing countries, this influence is greater in the relationship between property rights, access to credit, subjective insecurity, and entrepreneurial activity. In developed countries, the greater effect of social capital is on the relationship between corruption and entrepreneurial activity.