Levels Of Social Capital Research Articles

The Capacity of Women Self-Help Groups in Social Capital Formation by Agro-Processing

Social capital is simply the network of connections and contacts that a person has accumulated during their lifetime or can be described as a type of capital that generates public goods for a shared goal. In the case of bonding social capital, some social relationships already exist and should be used in the best way possible. Building social capital leads to the development of new ties outside of one's own social circle. Linkage social capital can be considered as developing relationships with influential people in order to advance with the aid of their authority and influence. Self-help groups includes all the three forms of social capital. Social Capital Assessment Tool (SOCAT)developed by the World Bank was used for social capital formation analysis. The study conducted, revealed that self-help groups working on the basis of agro-processing were able to produce medium level of social capital. More raw materials related to their agro-processing unit and financial assistance can be provided, which will boost social capital formation. By stimulating more cooperation and collective action, members will develop a greater sense of trust in one another, which will ultimately support the empowerment of women by encouraging them to collaborate within self-help groups.

The moderating effect of social capital on fiscal policy responses to COVID-19: Cross-country evidence

This study suggests that an adequate level of social capital with a robust health profile might be associated with positive policy outcomes in combating COVID-19. We investigate the effect of interaction between fiscal policy responses and social capital on the spreading of the pandemic, by considering the country health profile, demographic and economic factors, in a cross-section of 94 countries. Firstly, the results of the analysis indicate the moderating effect of social capital on keeping the pandemic under control through fiscal policy measures. In particular, strong bilateral and family ties as well as better coordination and cooperation at the community level can facilitate the goal of fiscal policy measures. The results also reveal that the declining effect of fiscal policy on the pandemic mostly arises from the relatively high social capital levels, while it loses its effectiveness at low levels. Secondly, the findings emphasize the role of behavioural risk factors, care systems and preventative interventions as prominent determinants of surviving in pandemic. Thirdly, we conclude that taking specific measures for identified vulnerable and high-risk groups is quite important in overcoming the disease.

Life satisfaction and social capital in different age groups in Finland: Data from the European Values Study

The aim of the study is to explore age and language group differences in social capital and life satisfaction, and their associated factors, among Finnish and Swedish speakers in Finland. Data were derived from the European Values Study (EVS), and the sample included 2514 individuals aged 18 years and older. Various regression-based methods were used in the analyses. The results indicate that there are significant differences in social capital between Finnish and Swedish speakers but not in life satisfaction. Nevertheless, a positive association between volunteering and life satisfaction was observed for Finnish speakers. The findings corroborate that structural and cognitive social capital are associated with higher life satisfaction and highlight the potential for promoting well-being in younger and older adults through being actively engaged in and feeling connected to a community. Moreover, special attention should be given to young adults who display the lowest levels of life satisfaction and social capital.

MENTAL HEALTH IMPACT OF DISCRIMINATION: THE PROTECTIVE FUNCTION OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN DIVERSE GROUPS OF OLDER ADULTS

Abstract Discrimination occurs in complex social contexts leading to various levels and types of outcomes. Although the negative health impact of discrimination is well-documented, there is a need to investigate patterns among discrimination, social factors, and health outcomes in diverse racial/ethnic groups of older adults to inform interventions. For example, social capital, such as social cohesion, social ties, and safety, is anticipated to be directly associated with mental health and also to modify the impact of discrimination. In the present study, we examined (1) racial/ethnic differences in perceived discrimination, social capital, and depressive symptoms and (2) the direct effect of perceived discrimination and social capital, as well as their interactions, on depressive symptoms among different racial/ethnic groups. Data were drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) Round 3 (2,988 non-Hispanic Whites, 719 non-Hispanic Blacks, and 499 Hispanics; 68 mean age). Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks had a significantly higher level of perceived discrimination, lower social capital, and more depressive symptoms. Findings from multivariate linear regression models demonstrated that, in all racial/ethnic groups, frequent experiences of discrimination and low levels of social capital were associated with increased symptoms of depression. A significant interaction between discrimination and social cohesion was observed in non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics. In both groups, the negative impact of discrimination was lower among those with higher levels of social cohesion. Our findings support efforts such as improving well-being for older adults by promoting age-friendly communities to build greater social cohesion.

Impact of supervisor leadership on construction worker safety behavior in China: the moderating role of social capital

PurposeLeaders' behavior has a critical impact on workers' safety behavior. However, previous studies have shown contradictive views on the effect of different leadership styles on safety behavior. One reason may be that the effectiveness of leaders' behavior varies according to diverse contexts. This study examines the effect of transformational and transactional leadership (TsL) on the safety behavior of on-site workers under different levels of social capital in construction projects.Design/methodology/approachSafety behavior is divided into three types: safety compliance (SC), organizational-oriented safety participation and individual-oriented safety participation (ISP). Questionnaire survey data were collected from 302 construction workers in the Chinese construction industry.FindingsThe results indicate that the positive effect of transformational leadership (TfL) of frontline supervisors on the two types of construction workers' safety participation is enhanced when social capital is high, although TfL has no significant effect on SC behavior. In contrast, TsL can promote construction workers' SC behavior and organizational-oriented safety participation and social capital positively moderating these relationships. TsL has no significant effect on ISP, but its interaction with safety behavior is positively related to ISP.Research limitations/implicationsThis study explains the inconsistent findings of previous research related to the role of leadership in safety behavior by introducing the social capitaltheory and distinguishing safety participation into two typesThis study is confined to one specific country, future research may benefit from investigating whether the conclusions of this study will be different in other nations with diverse cultures.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study provide frontline supervisors with new insights into improving workers' safety and the efficiency of leadership in safety management.Originality/valueThis study explains the inconsistent findings of previous research related to the role of leadership in safety behavior by introducing the social capital theory and distinguishing safety participation into two types.

The value of family social capital in informal financial markets: Evidence from China

This study investigates whether and how family social capital influences borrowers' loan performance in informal financial markets. Using a unique dataset collected from an informal financial institution in Eastern China from 2014 to 2018, we show that a higher level of family social capital is associated with better loan performance, captured by lower default probability, lower loss ratio, and lower loss amount. The effect is more pronounced for borrowers with less access to formal financial markets and those with poorer financial conditions, while it is less pronounced for borrowers with higher risk preferences and those born in regions with high social trust. These results continue to hold after addressing endogeneity concerns and conducting a series of robustness tests. Overall, our study provides evidence that borrowers' family social capital creates value in the informal financial markets.

COVID-19 and Social Capital Loss: The Results of a Campus Outbreak.

This study examines the effects of a COVID-19 outbreak on levels of social capital on a college campus, drawing on survey data collected from students at two colleges-one that experienced an outbreak and one that did not. Social capital is examined as an individual level resource and as a campus level normative tool used to fight collective action problems. We test the hypothesis that the outbreak, as a "shock" to the campus, diminished social capital. We also test hypotheses on gender, race, and ethnicity and social capital, informed by prior research. Our findings suggest that the outbreak did reduce social capital at both the individual and campus levels, though individual social capital had a mitigating effect that increased campus social capital. We find also that gender was significantly linked to campus social capital, while race was predictive of individual level social capital.

Pundits, presenters, and promoters: Investigating gaps in digital production among social media users using self-reported and behavioral measures

Through the lens of Bourdieu’s field theory, we investigate the relationship between the social characteristics of social media users and their differentiating practices in producing digital content. Matching survey data with self-reported user profiles and one year of actual posts on Twitter, we found four online fields of lifecasting, politics, promotion, and entertainment. Users tweeting positively about entertainment held higher levels of social capital. From 2011 and 2017, we found a reduction in lifecasting was accompanied by the rise of promotion.

More than spatial coordination – How Dutch agricultural collectives foster social capital for effective governance of agri-environmental measures

Collective approaches for agri-environmental measures are known for aiming at spatial coordination of measures to enhance ecological effectiveness. In the Netherlands, governance networks for agri-environmental measures are centered around agricultural collectives that function as intermediaries between individual farmers and governmental as well as non-governmental actors. Against the background that some agricultural collectives are bottom-up and other top-down initiated, we analyzed in how far they can build up social capital through formal and informal relations. We used the Net-Map method to collect qualitative and quantitative data for a Social Network Analysis to uncover the network characteristics that contribute to a certain level of social capital. The results revealed that the umbrella organization links the collectives to the national governmental level and to other collectives. This is especially important for top-down initiated collectives. The facilitation of internal meetings within the collectives is important for social learning. Furthermore, a formalization of the exchange between collectives and stakeholders of nature conservation could strengthen cooperation where traditionally conflicts dominate. By analyzing interaction in detail, the social reasoning to promote collective agri-environmental measures was highlighted. They enable collaboration of different stakeholders at multiple levels to the end that knowledge and resources are bundled.

Role of social capital in education. Results of a survey on the individual social capital of school librarians

Schools and school libraries play a vital role in the formation of the attitudes and behaviours of young people. Adolescence is an important period of acquisition of knowledge, socialisation, development of artistic sensitivity and enculturation, which an individual will use for the rest of his or her life. The competencies and attitudes of school and school library personnel may significantly affect the development of children and youth. It seems relevant, then, to examine their social attitudes and the level of their social capital. The paper presents the results of a survey conducted among school librarians in 20 countries around the world. The survey examined the level of their individual social capital, social attitudes and civic attitudes. According to its results, school librarians have an average level of individual social capital; however, their social capital, social activity and civic engagement are among the lowest compared with the personnel of the other types of libraries.

Is Social Trust a Governance Mechanism? Evidence From Dividend Payouts of Chinese Firms

AbstractWhile management studies show that micro‐level trust within and between firms affects firm performance and innovation, it is unclear how macro‐level trust, namely social trust, affects corporate decisions. Addressing this is important because micro‐level trust is shaped by macro‐level social norms. A growing literature finds that corporations are influenced by local social norms. Drawing from this insight and using various measures of social trust, we examine the impact of social trust on dividend payouts. We find that levels of social trust, both in terms of directly measured trust and trust inferred from concomitant levels of civic social capital, negatively impact dividend payouts of local firms across Chinese provinces. We argue that community social trust supplies governance and plays a substitute role for dividend payouts, with a higher level of social trust engendering a lower demand for dividend payouts. This negative effect is more pronounced for younger firms, companies with high growth potential and firms in regions of less‐developed institutional environments. We further show that agency cost plays an important mediating role, since high social trust reduces agency cost, jointly affecting dividends. Firms in high‐trust regions make meaningful use of their greater retained earnings for research and development and innovations.

Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: A Cross-Sectional Study among Rural Japanese Working Residents.

Social capital is positively associated with self-rated health; however, this association among workers is still unclear. Thus, this study examined the relationship between social capital and self-rated health with special attention to the employment type. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 6160 workers aged 20-64 years from two towns in Mie Prefecture in January-March 2013. Social capital was assessed using five items in 4816 income-earning workers. The social capital scores were summed and then divided into three groups. The self-rated health responses were dichotomised into 'poor' and 'good'. The association was examined using a stepwise binomial logistic regression stratified by employment type and adjusted for potential confounders. Regular employees with low social capital had a higher significant odds ratio of poor self-rated health than medium (OR 0.58 95% CIs 0.39-0.87) and high (OR 0.39; 95% CIs 0.26-0.59) social capital levels after controlling for all potential confounders. Similar patterns were observed for non-regular employees with medium and high social capital. There was a significant relationship between some indicators of social capital and poor self-rated health among self-employees. These results highlight that social capital acts as an unequal health resource for different types of workers.

Social Capital Inequality According to Hukou in Unequal Economic Environments in China

China is experiencing an increase in socioeconomic inequality in comparison to the global trend. Employing the hukou registration as a focal point, this study seeks to examine social capital differences between developed and underdeveloped regions in China. As the data for the analysis were from the China Family Panel Studies, social capital was measured by social trust, participation, and networks. The Gini coefficient, a measure of economic inequality, was calculated for 25 different provinces in China in this paper. In light of the fact that these are panel data collected between 2014 and 2018, this study employed the random-effect model for panel analysis. The first finding is that individuals, in an environment characterized by high levels of economic inequality, have low levels of social capital levels in China. Second, the inverse relationship between economic inequality and social capital varies according to social capital element. Specifically, this inverse relationship was observed in social trust and social networks, but not in social participation. Third, hukou registration moderated the inverse relationship between economic inequality and social capital. The rural hukou registration revealed a stronger inverse relationship between economic inequality and social capital than its urban counterpart. This indicates that the negative impact of economic inequality on social capital resulted in additional inequality among rural hukou holders.

Social capital and mobility: An experimental study

Theoretical models of local social capital predict that communities may find themselves in one of two equilibria: one with a high level of local social capital and low migration or one with a low level of local social capital and high migration. There is empirical literature suggesting that immigrants who join communities high in social capital are more likely to invest in local social capital and that the whole community will then end up in the equilibrium with high local social capital and low migration. However, this literature suffers from the selection of immigrants, which makes the identification challenging. In order to test the causal influence of the initial level of local social capital, we take the setup used in the theoretical models into the laboratory. We treat some communities by increasing the initial level of social capital without affecting the equilibrium outcomes. We find that while most communities end up in one of the two equilibria predicted by the theoretical models, the treated communities are more likely to converge to the equilibrium with a high level of local social capital and low migration.

Stability Governance of E-commerce Supply Chain: Social Capital and Governance Mechanism Design Perspective

The supply chain is an important part for firms to maintain competitive advantages. With the development of the Internet industry, the complexity of the business environment faced by E-commerce firms has greatly increased. Additionally, unexpected events have occurred from time to time, which have seriously affected the stability of the E-commerce supply chain. Supply chain social capital comprises the resources obtained by firms in the supply chain network through reputation, status, trust, commitment, etc., which allows the firms in the supply chain to form an interdependent relationship. Supply chain social capital can generate sustainable competitive advantages for supply chain firms. Based on the theory of social capital, this paper analyzes the impact on supply chain collaboration and stability from the three dimensions of supply chain capital: structural capital, cognitive capital, and relational capital. The results show that supply chain social capital positively affects supply chain collaboration and affects the stability of the supply chain in indirect ways. At the same time, this paper also found that under different supply chain governance modes, there are differences in the relationship between supply chain social capital and supply chain collaboration, that the moderation effects of contractual governance are not significant, while relational governance has positive moderation effects on the relationship between supply chain structural capital, relational capital, and supply chain collaboration. The conclusion of this study provides a theoretical basis for E-commerce firms to improve the level of supply chain social capital, adopt informal relational governance to face market uncertainty, and then promote the stability of the supply chain. At the same time, it also provides practical reference for the management department to issue policies so as to promote mutual understanding between supply chain cooperative firms, and to form a harmonious supply chain relationship.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: A META-ANALYSIS / Sosyal Sermayenin Ekonomik Büyüme Üzerindeki Etkisi: Bir Meta-Analiz

The aim of this study is to synthesize the studies on the effect of social capital on economic and financial growth with the method of meta-analysis. Social capital has an impact on economic development by influencing individuals, businesses, banks and the way they do business, and thus trade. In this study, the studies carried out in the years 2007-2021 are discussed. In order to be able to interpret the quantitative findings of the studies that have dealt with this subject together, studies made on academic databases were scanned, and the findings consisting of 36 studies meeting the determined criteria and having a total of 3458 observations were synthesized through the meta-analysis method. Research findings of 36 different studies including sample size, standard error, and effect values were analyzed with the help of CMA (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) program. As a result of the meta-analysis, the effect size was found to be moderate (Fisher Z=0.380). According to the results of the meta-analysis, the H1 was accepted and it was revealed that the social capital level of the countries affected the economic growth at a moderate level. Considering the lack of consensus in the studies in the literature and the difficulty of measuring social capital, it is thought that this general finding is very valuable in terms of the literature and will make an important contribution.

Creating the Conditions for Intergenerational Justice: Social Capital and Compliance

Creating the Conditions for Intergenerational Justice: Social Capital and Compliance

Group heterogeneity and the economic effect of farmer organisation participation: Empirical evidence from Taiwan

AbstractWe explore the effects of different farmer organisations on smallholder farmers' economic performance. The average treatment effect of switching between different farmer organisations is examined. In addition, based on the premise that a higher level of social capital is accumulated through participation in multiple farmer organisations, we also investigate how the economic consequences of farmer organisation membership vary with the intensity of participation. Our conceptual model explicitly includes social capital to provide a micro‐foundation and a theoretical justification for the linkage between farmer organisation participation and the economic outcome. This indicates that participating in different types of farmer organisations is beneficial for farm households only when the returns from social capital investment outweigh the time cost of participation. Our empirical results suggest that membership of farmer organisations that are more homogeneous in terms of member specialty and similarity in production and marketing activities results in a significant increase in farm sales revenue and net returns. This result supports the view that technological proximity accentuates knowledge spillovers within the farmer organisations, and thus leads to better economic outcomes. In line with the prediction of the theoretical model, the average treatment effect of participation is found to increase with the number of organisations that farmers belong to. Moreover, results from the quantile regression provide empirical evidence supporting increasing returns to social capital accumulated through participation in several farmer organisations.

Social Capital and Its Returns as an Explanation for Early Labor Market Success of Majority and Minority Members in the Netherlands

This paper tests whether social capital can explain differences in labor market success between ethnic majority and minority members. To overcome problems of reverse causality—labor market success is not only the result of social capital, but also leads to better networks—the focus is on adolescents who enter the labor market. Data from the ‘Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey’ are used (N = 2574) and matched to register data from Statistics Netherlands. Hypotheses are tested with structural equation models and a longitudinal approach. Two different mechanisms are tested: the capital deficit and the return deficit. Ethnic majority and minority members do not differ in social capital, thus refuting the capital deficit hypothesis. However, for majority members, the upper reachability of their social capital negatively affects chances of unemployment and positively affects chances of having a permanent contract. For minority members, no such effects were observed, indicating that the same level of social capital that benefits majorities, does not benefit minorities. More research into the return deficit minority members face is needed.

Evaluating the Effects of Social Capital, Self-Stigma, and Social Identity in Predicting Behavioral Intentions of Agricultural Producers to Seek Mental Health Assistance.

Mental illness significantly impacts agricultural producers, whose occupation puts them at increased risk for compromised mental health and related disorders. Help-seeking intention, which can be mediated by variables such as social identity, social capital, and self-stigma, can lead to improved mental health outcomes. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the intention of agricultural producers to seek mental health assistance and determine whether these three variables are associated with help-seeking intention. Researchers administered a cross-sectional survey of agricultural producers from two regions in 32 Texas counties. Researchers surveyed a sample of Texas agricultural producers (n = 429) to understand their social identity, social capital, and degree of self-stigma, and their intent to seek help for personal or emotional problems and for suicide ideation. Researchers identified a relationship between social identity and social capital, which indicated that social identity is moderately associated with greater levels of social capital. The multiple linear regression analyses confirmed that social capital and self-stigma are significant predictors of producers’ help-seeking intention for both help-seeking types. These results signify the importance of efforts to increase social capital, increase mental health literacy and tailor training to address self-stigma and enhance positive help-seeking behavior among agricultural producers.