Capitalist Social Relations Research Articles

Exploring the impact of egalitarianism on employee proactivity: unpacking the mediating role of relational social capital

PurposeThis study examines how the resource of egalitarianism, at both individual and organizational levels, affects employee proactivity. Specifically, we propose relational social capital is an effective mechanism through which an individual's egalitarian mindset and the organization's egalitarian HR practice facilitate employee proactivity.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveys a sample of 511 knowledge workers employed in small to medium-sized enterprises in Australia and New Zealand.FindingsResults of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) demonstrate that relational social capital partially mediates the relationship between an egalitarian mindset and employee proactivity and fully mediates the effects of egalitarian HR practice on employee proactivity.Practical implicationsGlobally, a social transformation, particularly around the notions of social responsibility and sustainability, is occurring, and this means increasing numbers of employees support egalitarian ideals. HR practitioners therefore need to be aware of how their human resource management (HRM) system supports this value orientation.Originality/valueThis study illuminates a new performance pathway by highlighting egalitarianism's contribution, as a valuable resource, to organizational and employee innovation. This focus on egalitarianism is both timely and important. This is because the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, through their support of diversity, inclusiveness and equality, reflect an egalitarian ethos, and managers are becoming increasingly cognizant of the need to embed these values into organizational structures and operational processes.

Donating or collecting? Differential impact mechanisms of knowledge sharing through enterprise social media on employees' innovative work behavior

PurposeIn the digital age, enterprise social media (ESM) has been broadly used to break the barrier of space and time for knowledge sharing involving two activities—knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Yet, hardly any study has thus far explored how and when knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM impact employees’ innovative work behavior (IWB). Therefore, drawing on the social exchange theory, this study aims to introduce relational social capital as a mediator and performance climate as a moderator to examine differential impact mechanisms of knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM on employee IWB.Design/methodology/approachFirst, we collected 225 survey data from employees who used ESM at work. Then, according to the two-stage procedure of the partial least square structural equation modeling method, we established and analyzed a moderated mediation model based on the context of ESM.FindingsResults demonstrate that knowledge donating through ESM has a positive relationship with IWB, but knowledge collecting through ESM has no such relationship. Through the mediation of relational social capital, both knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM have indirect positive relationships with IWB, but knowledge collecting through ESM has a greater one. Moreover, when employees perceived a relatively high-performance climate, the positive relationships of knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM with IWB via relational social capital would be stronger.Practical implicationsOn the one hand, organizational managers should not only focus on different innovation benefits caused by knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM but also should realize differences in the direct/indirect effect of knowledge donating and knowledge collecting through ESM on IWB. On the other hand, employees need to proactively enhance their innovative ability by considering knowledge donating/collecting channels (e.g. ESM), gaining successful competitiveness. Moreover, both managers and employees should realize that different innovation benefits of knowledge sharing activities through ESM can be further strengthened when establishing a high-performance climate.Originality/valueDifferent from prior literature on knowledge sharing or ESM, this study contributes to analyzing the differential effects of two dimensions (i.e. knowledge donating and knowledge collecting) of knowledge sharing on employees' IWB in the context of ESM.

Interview with Werner Bonefeld: Open Marxism and the Critique of Society

Werner Bonefeld is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of York, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana, Slovenia). He has published on topics as varied as the development of the British state during the 1980s and 1990s, Europe’s monetary union, ordoliberalism, and Marx’s critique of political economy. A ground-breaking critical theorist, Bonefeld’s contribution to an ‘open’ Marxism developed a rigorous critique of capitalist social relations without omitting the significant themes of lived experience and class antagonism. The following interview marks the publication of a recent monograph titled A Critical Theory of Economic Compulsion: Wealth, Suffering, Negation. Bonefeld discusses his reading of Frankfurt School critical theory and its relation to heterodox and open Marxist social theory with Alex Alvarez Taylor, whose research focuses on early critical theory.

Relational social capital and tacit knowledge sharing: the mediation of P-O fit and POS

ABSTRACT In the knowledge economy, tacit knowledge sharing (TKSB) is crucial for organizations seeking sustained competitive advantage. This study explores the impact of relational social capital (RSC) on TKSB in Chinese cultural and creative organizations, framed within Social Exchange Theory (SET). A chain mediation model is introduced to assess the sequential mediating roles of person-organization fit (P-O Fit) and perceived organizational support (POS). Data from 212 employees were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS. Results show that RSC significantly enhances TKSB, with P-O Fit and POS acting as key mediators. This research extends SET by demonstrating how RSC promotes TKSB and empirically validates the chain mediation effect of P-O Fit and POS. The study provides deeper insights into tacit knowledge sharing mechanisms, offering practical implications for management strategies in the cultural and creative sectors.

Capitalist Social Relations and the Environment: A Hyena—Baby Gazelle Acquaintance

Despite playing a critical role in the survival of living beings, several empirical findings all around the world suggest that the planet Earth is now in a perilous state. Whilst acknowledging the influence of several superficial humanistic factors upon which the conventional discourses on the current environmental concerns have long been affixed, this analytical paper contends that such aspects are deficient in comprehending and remedying the problem. Contrarily, attempts to identify the underlying causes and cures of the environmental problem should recognise the modus vivendi of the prevailing capitalistic social relations, which serve as the basis for existing exploitative and environmentally damaging behaviours. It is against this standpoint that this paper uses both theoretical and empirical evidence informed by a metabolic rift theory to dismiss the prevalent illusory eco-capitalistic arguments that capitalism is not responsible for the current environmental problems in the world but only human activities. In order to address the current environmental problem, the paper proposes a systemic transformation wherein unorthodox forms of social interactions are oriented around satisfying the needs of both the environment and humans without jeopardising each other’s worth.

Landscapes of Recarbonization: Carbon Neutrality, Settler Colonialism, and Cumulative Environmental Effects in the Peace River Region, Canada

Contemporary discourses of net-zero decarbonization (also referred to as carbon neutrality) routinely overlook the landscape transformations required to offset carbon emissions. Conventional analyses also often fail to engage with decarbonization as an inherently spatial process, embedded in landscapes in which the biophysical, socionatural, and political economic dimensions of energy intersect. This creates a conceptual pitfall: the potential to misread and depoliticize strategies of putative decarbonization that might not, in fact, be carbon neutral, particularly when the cumulative effects of broader landscape transformations are considered. To illustrate this pitfall, our analysis queries net-zero decarbonization strategies that arise alongside—and often as a result of—simultaneous investments in fossil fuel production, a process we term recarbonization. We posit recarbonization as a variegated sociospatial phenomenon that materializes through the site-specific interplay between capitalist social relations and biophysical processes. In making this claim, we seek to bridge political economy with concepts of materiality and relationality that, we suggest, enable deeper theoretical engagement with multifaceted landscape transformations entailed by processes of energy transition. Drawing on a case study of the Peace River region in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, this article exposes the cumulative environmental effects and ongoing forms of colonial violence of some net-zero decarbonization agendas.

Contesting the service model of ‘care’ in disabling capitalism: a Disability Politics perspective

Mainstream feminist perspectives on social reproduction often portray non-disabled women as active providers of a service (care) to those assumed to be its passive, agency-less recipients. In response, this article accounts for social reproduction as a key factor in the reproduction of disabling capitalist social relations and argues for an understanding of social reproduction that no longer obscures the contributions of those considered to be ‘cared for’. Alternatives to what is termed here ‘the service model of care’ can be established through mobilising and organising for In(ter)dependent Living through an anti-productivist politics whose social relations prefigure alternatives against and beyond disabling capitalism.

Exploring the formation mechanism of new energy vehicle industry-university-research innovation network: the role of structural, cognitive and relational social capital

Exploring the formation mechanism of new energy vehicle industry-university-research innovation network: the role of structural, cognitive and relational social capital

Social Capital and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia: Evidence from the Amhara Region

This paper broadens the scope of research on social capital theory by offering new perspectives and empirical evidence on reducing objective poverty. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of social capital on poverty reduction among members of financial cooperatives in both urban and rural areas of the Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Kothari's formula was employed, followed by multi-stage stratified, proportional, and random sampling. Primary data was collected from 348 sample members through a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, and personal interviews. Additionally, data was analyzed using multiple linear regression and logistic regression models. The study reveals important insights into the relationship between social capital and poverty reduction among members. Structural and relational social capital, family labor, physical capital, and access to credit have a positive and significant impact on poverty reduction. On the other hand, the lack of cognitive social capital, which refers to the lack of awareness regarding the common mission, goals, and shared values of financial cooperatives, has a negative and significant impact on poverty reduction. Furthermore, family size, marital status, and individual health conditions also negatively and significantly affect poverty reduction. The study emphasizes the significance of social capital in influencing poverty reduction among members in the study area. Policymakers can design targeted interventions to effectively combat poverty by recognizing the impact of different dimensions of social capital, as well as family labor and physical capital. Strengthening social capital within financial cooperatives and promoting collaboration with financial institutions are essential steps towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of poverty alleviation in the region.

From liberation to freedom: Governing the “ghetto” in post-war Hungary

This article investigates the relationship between race and property in Hungary by examining the shifting discourse of the “ghetto” in post-war Hungary. I unpack the relationship between norms of propriety, or logics of use, associated with colonial epistemologies of land and the various racial projects deployed by the Hungarian state between socialist and liberal-capitalist governments. To operationalize this project, I put into conversation Brenna Bhandar’s racial regimes of ownership with David Theo Goldberg’s racial governmentality to understand the shifting logics and tactics of racial management toward Roma in Hungary. I show that the concept of the ghetto was crucial in the deployment of the racial project “The Elimination of Settlements with Unacceptable Social Conditions,” where the project was understood by officials as a palliative to the damage done by capitalist social relations. On the heels of this project, a group of liberal dissidents led by sociologist and demographer Istvan Kemeny forged a new problematic that centered state interventions on the Roma family. I show how this problematic was used to deny Roma tenure claims in the majority Roma Eighth District during the transition to liberal capitalism.

Empty pantries: The death of survival myths among typhoon Haiyan survivors in resettlement sites during COVID-19

Research has shown that globally, people often rely on their social networks to survive and recover from crises and disasters. This phenomenon has also been seen in the Philippines, a nation well-acquainted with disasters. This paper will look at the role social capital has played in the survival of an understudied and vulnerable group in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic - the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Typhoon Yolanda) living in resettlement sites north of Tacloban City. Using a qualitative approach to analysis 357 household surveys of resettlement site residents across Tacloban City, we argue that the myth of social capital as a lifeline for Filipinos in times of disaster does not necessarily apply to Haiyan survivors in resettlement sites during the pandemic. The paper finds that respondents’ relational social capital is imbalanced, with Haiyan survivors relying mainly on themselves or their bonding ties like close family members for financial assistance during the pandemic. The lack of diversity in their relational social capital in turn impacts their ability to survive and recover from COVID-19. Meanwhile, the relevance of collective social capital among respondents during the pandemic is not clear either – participants see value in engaging in mutual support initiatives (i.e., bayanihan) and share relatively strong relationships with some members of their community but also possess low levels of trust toward fellow resettlement site residents.

Primitive Accumulation in the East Africa Groundnut Scheme

ABSTRACT This paper revisits the Groundnut Scheme, a postwar colonial development project in East Africa infamous for its catastrophic failure. It examines the plans made by British state managers and the Scheme’s planners at both the United Africa Company and the Overseas Food Corporation to transform African colonial subjects into stabilized wage-labourers. The paper seeks to understand this social transformation in the context of the contradictory nature of capitalist social relations. This is achieved by using Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation: the separation of the worker from their means of subsistence. The paper focuses on two aspects of this process. Firstly, the creation of remote villages for the Scheme’s workers, physically separating them from traditional support structures. Secondly, the creation of a new gendered division of labour that would have transformed the homelife of the Scheme’s workers.

Being Happy Pays Off! Positive Affect Shaping Employee Creativity in the Hospitality Industry Through the Lens of Broaden-and-Build Theory

Service organizations, particularly in the hospitality sector, are constantly under pressure to meet the ever-increasing and ever-changing expectations of the customers, in an innovative manner; making employee creativity a mainstream demand. Researchers and practitioners are pondering ways to frame employee creativity in the hospitality industry. This study aims to empirically investigate the role of positive affect in framing employee creativity in the hospitality industry. The broaden-and-build theory was employed to explain the framework under study, examining relations between affective, cognitive, psychological, and social factors that may shape employee creativity in the hospitality industry. Data was collected from 391 employees, working in hotels and restaurants in Pakistan, on a structured survey, by using a purposive sampling approach. The PLS-SEM approach was considered for data analysis. The findings show a positive relationship between positive affect and perspective-taking. The previously understudied relationship between perspective-taking and thriving at work was found significant. The relationship of perspective-taking with structural and relational social capital was also found significant. Supporting prior research, our results show that thriving at work and relational social capital lead to employee creativity. Interestingly, the relationship between structural social capital and employee creativity was insignificant. This study provides valuable insights for practitioners and hospitality managers to shape employee creativity by considering positive affect as a stimulator.

Social capital in small industrial firms and its link with innovation

Introduction: social Capital in organizations is an intangible asset that represents the favourable relationships that exist between work teams, within an organization and externally, to different interest groups.Objective: this study examined the link between internal relational social capital (RSC) and external RSC with innovation in small industrial firms in Tabasco, Mexico. There was also an inquiry into how much internal RSC and external RSC explain innovation. Methods: the design was nonexperimental, cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational, and explanatory. Linear regression analysis was used.Results: significant positive relationships was identified between internal RSC and external RSC and innovation. The internal RSC and external RSC contributed significantly to the explaining of innovation. Areas of opportunity were identified for these firms in process design and formal research activities for new raw materials, production procedures and patent generation. Conclusion: to promote innovation, managers of small industrial companies must continue to establish strategies and practices to strengthen RSC

Music, Phones and Bank Loans

This article explores the making of two branded Spotify playlists to critique the concept of ‘affective labor.’ Over the last few decades, scholars have argued that social media users and creative industries workers alike are engaged in a new type of labor, affective labor, which generates economic value for companies. The article challenges this framing. Drawing on Marxist concepts of productive and unproductive labor, in addition to feminist social reproduction theory, it details playlists made for Motorola phones and Itaú bank by paid contractors. The article situates the role of these playlists, as part of advertising campaigns, within the broader circuits of capital, showing how both paid and unpaid playlisting are unproductive labor, and therefore do not produce surplus value. The playlists do, however, assist in the overall reproduction of capitalism, particularly through the commodification of labor power for the paid lists. The article argues that characterizing musical production involving affect, especially online, as ‘affective labor’ hampers our ability to understand affect within the production and reproduction of capitalist social relations. It contends that a key political question of affect is not only the production of subjectivities, but the conversion of affectively dense, social values into commodified labor controlled by capital. Affective politics is when affects are literally put to work.

Training and Development, Work Performance, and Social Capital Constructs of Library Personnel in the South Manila Educational Consortium

Libraries play a crucial role in promoting information access and intellectual growth. To ensure library personnel thrive and meet diverse client needs, it is essential to understand their professional development and performance. There is insufficient research in a library working environment that integrates training and development, work performance, and social capital among personnel into a unified paradigm. This study is being carried out in this context to assess all three variables from library personnel and the findings will serve as a basis for improving training and development programs, enhancing work performance, and fostering social capital among library personnel, thus leading to informed decision-making processes related to human resource development and organizational strategy for optimizing library personnel performance and promoting a conducive working environment. The study utilized descriptive quantitative methodology, collecting data through a structured survey questionnaire from the South Manila Educational Consortium Libraries. Sixty-one (61) questionnaires were completed and returned from the total population, and SPSS was used for analysis, interpretation, frequency distribution, percentages, and mean. The findings showed that seminars, conferences, and workshops were the most available and widely used interventions of the respondents. The study also found that inadequate funding hinders training and development, with library funding being a key strategy to enhance them. Furthermore, respondents demonstrated above-average task and contextual performance, excellent counterproductive work behavior, and high levels of structural, relational, and cognitive social capital. Based on the notable results, it becomes evident that the training and development interventions of respondents were not significantly available. Additionally, it was observed that most of the library personnel made full use of the available interventions. Also, the study discovered positive work performance and the presence of social capital in the examined population. Keywords: Academic Library, Training and Development, Work Performance, Social Capital, Library Personnel

Social reproduction in rural Chinese families: A three‐generation portrait

AbstractMuch of the existing debate on social reproduction focuses on capitalist social relations or is framed around the distinction between the Global North and Global South. Using China, whose unique post‐1949 developmental trajectory embraces both elements of socialism and capitalism, this article aims to breakdown the dichotomy between capitalism and other economic systems and instead draw attention to the ways in which households, the state and market are interdependent. Drawing upon an ethnography conducted in two rural villages and three‐generational life history data, this article explores how the organization of reproductive work evolved in rural families against the backdrop of wider political and economic transformations since 1949. Through an examination of the inter‐linkages between productive and reproductive activities across three generations, it reveals that unpaid reproductive work, performed unambiguously by women, has been central to China's economic modernization in both the Mao and Post‐Mao eras. The organization of this reproductive work among women inside the households of each generation since 1949 is influenced by a combination of factors including the patrilocal and patrilineal kinship system, the social welfare context and the economic processes of a particular era. While confirming existing scholarship on migration and agrarian change, by revealing the household as a site of gendered and intergenerational negotiation, this article disputes a linear generational power shift in agrarian transformations.

Antecedents and consequences of green supply chain management practices in Ghana’s manufacturing sector

PurposeThe study explores manufacturers' supply chain social capital (SCSC) (structural social capital and relational social capital) and supply chain performance, respectively, as drivers and outcome of green supply chain management practices (GSCMPs). Additionally, the study explores the direct relationship between SCSC and supply chain performance of manufacturers.Design/methodology/approachThe author develops and tests a research model grounded in the resource-based view and the natural resource-based view theory using survey data from 100 manufacturing firms operating in Ghana. The measurement model and hypothesized paths were examined using partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings revealed that relational social capital of manufacturers has a positive and significant relationship with supply chain performance, but structural social capital does not. Additionally, manufacturers' structural social capital and relational social capital were found to have a positive and significant relationship with GSCMPs. Lastly, GSCMPs were found to have a positive and significant relationship with supply chain performance.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the limited literature demonstrating the contribution of intangible relational assets, specifically SCSC, toward GSCMPs implementation.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SOCIAL CAPITAL AND PERFORMANCE OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

This study aimed to establish how entrepreneurial social capital influenced the Performance of MSMEs in Mombasa so as to gain an understanding of which strategies need to be formulated so as to stimulate the performance of the MSMEs. To achieve this objective, specific objectives included assessing the extent to which structural social capital, relational social capital, and, thirdly, cognitive and social capital influence the performance of MSMEs in Mombasa County. The research was guided by theories, including Social, signaling, and Resource-based view theories. The research adopted a descriptive design, with the population targeted being drawn from MSMEs operating within Mombasa County, from which a representative sample of 353 SMEs was selected as respondents. The respondents were selected using random sampling. Data that the researcher collected was collected with the aid of structured questionnaires, and finally, data was assessed, and inferences were made through descriptive statistics that guided the researcher to draw conclusions. The researcher found that dimensions of social capital, structural, relational, and cognitive, do significantly and positively influence the performance of MSMEs in Mombasa County. The study concluded that a positive correlation exists, implying that business management has to harness social capital correctly to improve business performance and poster upward growth. The study advances the empirical findings and theoretical foundations of social capital. In further research in this field, it would be useful to compare the influence of social capital on competitiveness indicators confirmed in firms’ financial reports by using a sample of enterprises with more transparent financial information.

Deconstructing the University: Contemporary DEI, Neoliberal Rationalities, and the Abolition of the Administrative Apparatus

The following chapters attempt to develop some working theories to combat capitalist exploitation and racist and gendered oppression in the university, culminating in a call for the abolition of the university’s administrative apparatus. The project is divided broadly into two parts, which are referential to each other, but maintain slightly different areas of focus. Part 1 details a preliminary critique of the political-economy of the contemporary neoliberal university, drawing influence from Marxian economics and structuralist theories of ideology, critiquing contemporary discourses of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). Part 2 focuses more directly on issues pertaining to oppression and difference, maintaining a predominantly Marxist critique which situates racism and patriarchy as co-constitutive of capitalist social relations. The project’s conclusion, seeks to join the theoretical developments of Parts 1 and 2 into a singular political mission: abolition.