Family Social Capital Research Articles

The Arts Alumni Have Spoken: The Impact of Training in Higher Education on Entrepreneurial Careers

Studies of alumni from arts-focused degree programs in American higher education have revealed the need for arts entrepreneurship training for self-reliant careers, resulting in the creation of at least 168 programs and course offerings for students in a range of arts disciplines. Using factor analysis of datasets from the 2015–2017 administrations of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, a multi-institution online alumni survey, this paper divides the skills most relevant to arts entrepreneurship training into four latent categories: critical thinking, leadership, business management, and artistic specialty. A logistic regression revealed statistically significant associations between the latent variables with alumni’s propensity for freelancing and new venture creation. We also identified that race interacts with both student loan amount and family social and cultural capital. Arts-focused higher education programs should consider how they can offer training in these skill groups and complementary opportunities for financially challenged college students and those with fewer familial connections to the arts without creating additional barriers to careers in the arts.

The influence of migrant children's identification with the college matriculation policy on their educational expectations.

Based on the theoretical framework of cultural reproduction theory and ecosystem theory, this paper explores the impact of migrant children's identification with the college entrance examination policy on their educational expectations and the associated underlying mechanisms from the micro, meso, and macro levels. In total, 1,770 questionnaires were collected from students, and 436 people were interviewed, including students, their teachers, and their parents. They are all from China. Through multidimensional analysis, the results indicated that both individual academic achievement and family social capital have positive impacts on migrant children's educational expectations and that social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination have negative impacts on their educational expectations. Migrant children's identification with the policy has a significant positive impact on these children's educational expectations. Their identification with the policy enhances the positive impact of individual academic achievement and family social capital on their educational expectations and partially weakens the negative impact of social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination on their educational expectations. The analysis suggests that college matriculation policy for migrant children drives a compensation mechanism that involves the “principle of justice”, a cultural mechanism that involves “promoting learning through examinations”, and an institutional mechanism involving “urban-rural integration” to increase educational expectations. This study enriches and develops the expectation theory of migrant children and provides a policy reference for local governments to improve their policies for college entrance examinations for migrant children and to promote household registration system reform.

A multiple-group analysis of social Capital and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults in urban China during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: The present study examined the moderating effects of family social capital on the relationship between community social capital and loneliness among older adults in urban Chinese communities during the COVID-19 outbreak period between January and March 2020.Method: We used quota sampling to recruit 472 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years or older. A multiple-group analysis was applied to examine the proposed hypotheses.Results: Community-based cognitive social capital was significantly associated with both social and emotional loneliness among older adults with relatively low levels of family social capital. However, these associations were statistically nonsignificant among those with high family social capital levels. Community-based structural social capital was not associated with loneliness in either family social capital group.Conclusion: The findings highlight the role of cognitive social capital in reducing loneliness and support community social capital replacement theory in explaining the mechanism linking social capital to loneliness in later life in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adoption of Artificial Intelligence: A Mixed Methods Study on Network Ties and Family Influence

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have gained in significance for all types of firms, including family-influenced firms. However, despite their idiosyncratic motives, little is known about the issues family-influenced firms face in adopting complex and knowledge intensive technologies, such as AI. Peculiar characteristics of AI technologies—specifically, autonomy, learning, and inscrutability— present both opportunities and challenges to family-influenced firms. To explore how family-influenced firms approach AI technologies, we adopt a social capital perspective and combine inductive qualitative and deductive quantitative research into a mixed methods design. In the first step, we conducted a multiple case study of eight case firms consisting of rich data from 112 interviews and additional archival documents. Building on within-case and cross-case pattern analysis, we reveal opposing implications of external social capital and (internal) family social capital on the adoption of AI. While external network ties with suppliers, customers, and competitors help overcome the challenges due to the unique aspects of AI technologies, family influence exacerbate those challenges. In the second step, we sought to test the conceptual framework that we developed with our multiple case study. Based on large-scale data from 1,444 firms, we find empirical support that increasing levels of external social capital with regard to suppliers, customers, and competitors drive AI adoption. Moreover, we find that family influence has a negative moderating effect on the relationships between supplier, customer, and competitor ties on the one hand and AI adoption on the other hand. Our study contributes toward a nuanced understanding of the idiosyncratic challenges of AI adoption faced by family-influenced firms, the role of both external and family social capital in this regard, and how and why AI-related characteristics cause owning families to exacerbate the AI adoption-related challenges.

Social Capital in Family Firms: The Roles of Trust and Openness

Organizations can accumulate knowledge through social relationships and thereby attain competitive advantages. Especially for family firms, these social relationships are relevant to bridging resource constraints and developing entrepreneurial opportunities through complementary knowledge. We approach this research gap by building on rich data taken from 92 interviews and further data sources from seven case firms. All case firms were family firms from Switzerland in which the owning families had significant influence on the management of the company. Building on within-case and cross-case pattern analysis, we show how family influence affects family social capital in family firms. This capital, in turn, affects levels of trust and control, which have stimulating and inhibiting influences, respectively, on openness and resistance to strengthening and expanding social relationships. As a result, multiple forms of social capital emerge at different levels of analysis, namely, organizational social capital and external social capital.

Enhancing Enterprise Family Social Capital Through Family Governance: An Identity Perspective

Despite significant discussion surrounding the benefits of family social capital in family business research, precisely how it is built and maintained by enterprise families remains unclear. To explore how and when family governance practices can avoid the decay of enterprise family social capital, we examine the mediating role of family identity and the significance of both generational and business ownership. Testing of our moderated mediation framework using data from 175 enterprise families globally suggests that family governance can stimulate family social capital by strengthening family identity. We also find a negative moderating role for business ownership in this indirect relationship.

The impact of COVID-19 on employment and income of vocational graduates in China: Evidence from surveys in January and July 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the economy of China in early 2020. Strict lockdown measures were implemented nationwide to prevent the further spread of the virus. During the lockdown period, many economic activities were affected, which had repercussions for the nation's overall employment. Vocational graduates were among the most affected by the crisis. To estimate the causal effects of COVID-19 on the full-time employment of vocational high school graduates as well as their monthly income and hours worked by week, we exploit variations in the intensity of the pandemic in time and across space using survey data from vocational schools from six provinces in China. The results of the difference-in-differences (DID) estimates indicate that being located in counties with high pandemic intensity significantly reduced both the employment in full-time jobs of vocational graduates as well as their monthly income. Our study's analysis demonstrates that the effects of COVID-19 on the labor market can be attributed to the large-scale contraction of labor demand of the enterprises that were hiring vocational graduates. To cope with this situation, vocational graduates took various measures, including reducing consumption, drawing on their savings, searching for new jobs, taking on part-time jobs, borrowing money, and attending new training programs. In addition, the empirical analysis finds that there were heterogeneous effects with respect to gender, family social capital, the industry in which the vocational graduate was participating, and whether the individual was in a management position.

Examining the Relationship of Family Social Capital and Use of Pediatric Primary Health Care Services in the 2016-19 National Survey of Children's Health.

This study examined the relationship of family social capital (FSC) and pediatric primary health care services (PHCU) among young children aged 0-5 years in the United States. FSC involves the interrelated contexts of child health and family characteristics. Understanding how this impacts PHCU may reveal important considerations for supporting access and use of essential health care services. Using data from the 2016-19 National Survey of Children's Health (weighted N=21,496,634), we conducted descriptive statistics and logistic regression to ascertain the relationship between FSC and PHCU. Statistically significant contributions included FSC (odds ratio [OR]=1.2; confidence interval [CI]=1.08-1.40), high school (OR=0.49; CI=2.65-5.39), and some college (OR=0.72; CI=0.62-0.85) DISCUSSION: Findings support that FSC and parent academic achievement impact PHCU. Interventions that foster family connection and parent adult health literacy may enhance PHCU.

Moderating effect of social capital on the dynamics between entrepreneurial orientation and internationalization of Spanish family owned businesses

AbstractThis paper addresses an important knowledge gap regarding the internationalization of family businesses. To understand the specific factors that influence the internationalization of these firms, this paper investigates the role and articulation of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and family social capital (FSC) on internationalization performance. Our findings reveal that the more entrepreneurial the family business, the higher the likelihood of identifying and exploiting business opportunities in foreign markets. The moderating effect that FSC can have on the dynamics between EO and internationalization indicates that this relational family specific asset facilitates organizational stability and performance enhancement.

(Un)Limited choice: analysing the strategic choices of first-in-generation students in neoliberal higher education

In highly marketised higher education systems, massification has afforded greater access, particularly for first-in-generation students. Generally, this expansion has been fuelled by neoliberal ideologies that valorise the notion of choice and promise of social mobility. In this study, using interviews with 25 first-generation students, the issue of choice is critically examined in one of the earliest arenas of neoliberal experimentation: the Chilean higher education system. The study found that these first-in-generation students encountered complex and multi-levelled challenges in making higher education choices. Such choices were firmly anchored in differing levels of aspiration, and were strongly mediated by both family and school social capital. As a result, we propose an addition to traditional conceptions of choice: students (and their families) who act as strategic choosers. This outcome challenges the notion that first-in-generation students encounter unitary trajectories or equitable choices in encountering higher education.

The Influence of Family Business and Social Capital on Entrepreneurial Intentions among Female University Students in the Philippines

Purpose: Female entrepreneurs play a significant role in the socio-economic development process, particularly through job creation, innovation, leadership, and poverty alleviation in the Philippines yet the forces that drive their entrepreneurial intentions have received the least attention in recent studies. The present study unveils how social capital and family business influence the development of entrepreneurial intention among females using the case of undergraduate university students in the Philippines.
 Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data were obtained from the total sample of 227 female undergraduates who participated in the study and a multivariate regression technique was employed for the data analysis. 
 Findings: The findings unveil the significant role of bonding and linking social capital in the development of entrepreneurial intentions among female undergraduate students in the Philippines. The findings further suggest that female students whose families own businesses are more likely to form entrepreneurial intentions and behavior compared to their counterparts.
 Research limitations/implications: The findings from the study provide a new direction for entrepreneurship education and contribute to the theory and practice of female entrepreneurship.
 Originality/value: This paper is original
 Paper type: a Research Paper

Resilience building among small businesses in low-income neighborhoods

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to investigate the drivers of static and dynamic resilience as a response to the COVID-19-induced crisis among small business entrepreneurs in Brazil. This study explores the role of human, social, and financial capital in the building of resilience responses based on 38 longitudinal case studies. Our interviews indicate that small businesses with lower levels of human capital and social capital were associated with static resilience responses. However, those with higher levels of human capital and higher levels of family social capital had a higher likelihood of developing a richer resource repertoire associated with stronger social media and financial management capabilities, which were associated with dynamic resilience responses. Our study helps in the theoretical understanding of reasons entrepreneurs at times fail to develop novel responses to the crises.

Family social capital as a driver to leverage challenged transgenerational entrepreneurship

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to unveil the key role of family social capital (FSC) as a driver for transgenerational entrepreneurship (TE) in the specific contexts of challenged successor-driven entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a multi-case study methodology. Guided by three theoretical propositions, three TE case studies are analyzed. Drawing on ten in-depth interviews with at least three different informants from each intra-family succession case study, evidence about this particularly complex phenomenon was obtained.FindingsThe paper highlights the effect of FSC as the key familiness driver to leverage challenged successor-driven entrepreneurship. The paper underscores the systemic and dynamic network of multiple exchanges required to construct successor’s own pool of knowledge resources and to support familiness and thus the competitive advantage of the family firm (FF).Practical implicationsDifferent scenarios are illustrated, and specific lessons are provided for successors and families that face TE opposition in intra-family succession, regarding the restoration of damaged FSC and involving non-family stakeholders in the successor-driven entrepreneurship. In these cases, opposition to successor-driven entrepreneurship may help to develop successor’s leadership abilities.Originality/valueFocusing on a specific intra-family succession context where successor-driven entrepreneurial initiatives face stakeholder opposition, the paper highlights the specific role played by FSC in the successor knowledge construction in specific contexts of challenged intra-family succession.

Family Social Capital in Family Business: A Faith-Based Values Theory

When this study was initiated in 2008, the concept of family social capital was new to the family business discipline. This paper summarizes in-depth qualitative research grounded in owning family experience to understand the nature and source of owning family social capital. Exploratory research began with roundtable discussions among family business owners, advisors, and researchers to understand how owning families sustain positive relationships characteristic of family social capital. These discussions revealed that some family business owners rely on their family faith to sustain and establish ethical norms. A follow-up review in the family studies literature revealed that many families rely on family faith practices and faith-based narratives to reinforce ethical norms that strengthen family relationships. Based on these findings, researchers developed hypotheses to guide additional research. Four owning families affiliated with different Christian denominations participated in in-depth qualitative research that supports hypotheses. Interviews and archival data revealed very similar faith-based practices, beliefs, and values across the four owning families. And additional qualitative evidence indicated positive connections between values-based family social capital and family owner succession, business performance, and community support. Theoretical relationships derived from qualitative data are summarized in a Faith-Based Values Theory of Family Business.

Multi-Level Social Capital and Subjective Wellbeing Among the Elderly: Understanding the Effect of Family, Workplace, Community, and Society Social Capital.

BackgroundMaintaining the subjective wellbeing of the elderly people is one of the major concerns in promoting health aging. This study concerned the influence of multi-level social capital on subjective welling and explored the affecting path among the elderly.MethodsA total of 1,078 elderly individuals anonymously and effectively surveyed in 2018, data was collected including their family, workplace, community, society social capital and subjective wellbeing, we used the structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis relationships among the variables.ResultsWe found that the total score of subjective wellbeing among the aging participants was 72.36 ± 10.08 on a range of 0–100. Family (β = 0.151, P < 0.001), workplace (β = 0.090, P < 0.001), community (β = 0.163, P < 0.001) social capital had a direct positive effect on subjective wellbeing. Society social capital had a direct positive effect on family (β = 0.253, P < 0.001), workplace (β = 0.585, P < 0.001), community (β = 0.438, P < 0.001) social capital. And society social capital had an indirect positive effect on subjective wellbeing through the mediating role of family, workplace, and community social capital.ConclusionThe research demonstrated that all the micro, meso and macro levels of social capital have protective effects for subjective wellbeing through direct or indirect way, inspiring to provide continuous improvement measures for multi-level social capital aimed at the elderly people.

How Socioeconomic Status and Family Social Capital Matter for the Subjective Well-Being of Young People: Implications for the Child and Family Welfare Policy in Ghana

AbstractThis article takes a health assets approach to extract policy lessons for Ghana’s present Child and Family Welfare Policy, introduced in 2014. We examine the role of Ghanaian adolescents’ socioeconomic status and family social capital in their subjective well-being using data obtained from a representative survey of adolescents (aged 13-18 years) in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Our empirical results revealed that various sub-components of family social capital, including family sense of belonging, autonomy support, control, and social support, varied with adolescents’ self-reported life satisfaction and happiness after controlling for their family socioeconomic status and other personal characteristics. Once family social capital was controlled for, socioeconomic status explained adolescents’ life satisfaction, but not their happiness. These findings confirm existing studies suggesting that family social capital can function as a protective ‘safety net’ for adolescents with low SES in the specific Ghanaian context. Consequently, this study contributes to the literature by arguing that, in order to develop Ghana’s Child and Family Welfare Policy further, adolescent ‘social empowerment’ ought to be accentuated alongside its current focus on enhancing household ‘economic empowerment’ via social protection interventions.

Family social capital and governance of family businesses: The emerging market evidence

Considered as the most dominant business form in the entrepreneurial fabric in Morocco, as in the majority of countries in the world (Salhi, 2017), the family business is distinguished by a family social capital (FSC) making it competitive and perennial (Mesfar &amp; Ben Kahla, 2018). This paper aims to analyze the influence of this capital, through its three dimensions — structural, relational, and cognitive — on the governance system of Moroccan family firms. The results of our exploratory study conducted among 30 family businesses in the form of interviews showed, on the one hand, that the existence of a strong FSC within the company makes its governance system based on informal family mechanisms. On the other hand, the weakness of the said capital has not led the companies that are the subject of our study to adopt formal corporate governance mechanisms as shared by several researchers. This is due, according to the interviewees, to socio-cultural considerations. Our results contribute to the enrichment of the literature while showing that the informality of governance mechanisms can be explained, not only by the strength of its FSC but also by such a socio-cultural context where the family model is of a communal and clan type welded by Islamic religious values of group cohesion

The Association Between Family Social Capital and Female Entrepreneurship

Following the new line of research on Family Social Capital, this work focused on the adaptation and application of the Family Social Capital questionnaire to studying the association between Family Social Capital (FSC) and the intention of Russian females to start a business. This study investigated the relationship between three dimensions of Family Social Capital (Structural, Cognitive, and Bonding) and components of Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) operationalized via Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior among females in Russia. Online survey participants (N=222) were assessed with 1) an adapted version of the FSC questionnaire (Álvarez et al., 2019); and 2) the EI questionnaire previously verified on a large Russian sample within Social Capital research (Tatarko & Schmidt, 2015). The study confirmed the positive relationship of EI with two dimensions of FSC: Structural FSC (namely, the frequency of time spent with significant family members) and Bonding FSC (namely, family resources that can be activated in various life situations). Both positive relationships are mediated by Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) - one's feeling of being capable to act upon one's intentions. The third dimension of FSC - Cognitive FSC (namely, family cohesion and intra-family trust) - showed no association with the intention to start a business among Russian females. Russian women with higher levels of EI demonstrated higher investment in family time with significant family members (Structural FSC) and reported exposure to larger intra-family resources (Bonding FSC). These two factors, even though not strengthened with a supportive and trustworthy family atmosphere (Cognitive FSC), provided the sense of confidence and control, which empowered the women with the courage to take preliminary actions with the intention of starting their own businesses.

Supporting Ultra Poor People with Rehabilitation and Therapy among families of children with Cerebral Palsy in rural Bangladesh (SUPPORT CP): Protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

IntroductionPoverty is a key contributor to delayed diagnosis and limited access to early intervention and rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy (CP) in rural Bangladesh. 97% of families of children with CP live below the poverty line in Bangladesh. Therefore, in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), efforts to improve outcomes for children with CP (including health-related quality of life, motor function, communication, and nutritional attainments) should also include measures to improve family economic and social capital. We propose a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated microfinance/livelihood and community-based rehabilitation (IMCBR) program for ultra-poor families of children with CP in rural Bangladesh.Material and methodsThis will be a cluster RCT comparing three arms: (a) integrated microfinance/livelihood and community-based rehabilitation (IMCBR); (b) community-based rehabilitation (CBR) alone; and (c) care-as-usual (i.e. no intervention). Seven clusters will be recruited within each arm. Each cluster will consist of 10 child-caregiver dyads totalling 21 clusters with 210 dyads. Parents recruited in the IMCBR arm will take part in a microfinance/livelihood program and Parent Training Module (PTM), their children with CP will take part in a Goal Directed Training (GDT) program. The programs will be facilitated by specially trained Community Rehabilitation Officers. The CBR arm includes the same PTM and GDT interventions excluding the microfinance/livelihood program. The care-as-usual arm will be provided with information about early intervention and rehabilitation. The assessors will be blinded to group allocation. The duration of the intervention will be 12 months; outcomes will be measured at baseline, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months.ConclusionThis will be the first RCT of an integrated microfinance/livelihood and CBR program for children with CP in LMIC settings. Evidence from the study could transform approaches to improving wellbeing of children with CP and their ultra-poor families.

Surviving COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Social Media and Family Social Capital in Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle in Indonesia

Promotion of a healthy lifestyle amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is an important part of disease prevention. Public outreach via social media shapes the public perception of the government’s campaign to stop COVID-19 spread. This study investigates the impact of social media and family social capital on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. The study covered a sample of 165 women in Indonesia; it was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Female respondents were selected because of their essential role in the family. The results show that the awareness of a healthy lifestyle is most likely affected by family social capital rather than social media use. Greater cohesion and interaction among family members, less family conflict, and better paternal control contributed to stronger family social capital. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how a healthy lifestyle can help families survive the pandemic.