Social Capital Matter Research Articles

Entrepreneurial resources and the well-being of women entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry of Uganda

Purpose The purpose of this study is to establish whether all the dimensions of entrepreneurial resources matter in fostering the well-being of women entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach An explanatory research design was used to collect data through a questionnaire survey of 283 women entrepreneurs who benefited from the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP). This study used Statistical Package for Social Sciences to analyze the data. Findings Study results show that social and human capital matter unlike financial capital in boosting the well-being of women entrepreneurs. Originality/value This study provides maiden empirical evidence on contribution of entrepreneurial resource dimensions in fostering the well-being of women entrepreneurs, unlike extant studies that mostly focused on entrepreneurial resources as a global variable. This was done using evidence from Uganda, a developing context where the government and other stakeholders are still grappling with improving the well-being of women as a pathway for social-economic development.

Trajectories of socio-ecological systems: Does social capital matter? A case study in the tropical Andes

Between natural and social systems there are two-way interactions, which determine the path of change in the Socio-Ecological System. For example, the type of land use decisions that society makes could lead to the deterioration of the biophysical system and its ecological functioning, causing effects on social well-being. Conceptual and simulation models of socio-ecological systems allow an understanding of such interactions and the development of trajectories. In this manuscript we explore the link between three lines of research that overlap but have been studied separately (i) Governance, (ii) Socio-ecological systems, and (iii) social capital. This paper analyzes the dynamics of social capital and its influence on governance and Land Use and Land Cover Changes in a basin of the Colombian Andes. To this end, we develop a Systems Dynamics model (SD). This research contributes to the (i) understanding of how the institutions, their policies, the actors, and the interactions generated between them in a territory influence the management of natural resources, which is indispensable to supporting the decision-making process; and (ii) operationalization of the social capital elements on the SES model through an integrated analysis with consideration of feedback mechanisms between natural and social system. With this model, a scenario evaluation is developed to analyze the effect of different approaches of the social capital organization on land cover in the basin case study.

Does social capital matter in underwriter's fees?

This study examines the influence of bond issuer's social capital on underwriting fees. Investors rely on accurate information to evaluate bond quality, while underwriters assume inventory risk stemming from uncertain investor demand. We posit that social capital enhances the quality of information disclosed by the issuer, consequently impacting the fees underwriters charge for bearing this risk. Utilizing data on new tax-exempt municipal bonds issued from U.S. counties over the period 1990–2017, we find that underwriters charge significantly lower fees for bonds issued from counties with higher social capital. This result remains robust after controlling for issuer and bond characteristics, as well as addressing potential endogeneity concerns. Further investigations show that the observed effect persists only in situations where underwriters bear greater risk, suggesting that social capital functions as a valuable form of certification within the underwriting process.

The pricing of green bonds: Does social capital matter? Evidence from China

This paper examines the relation between the level of regional societal trust and the cost of green bonds. We conduct empirical estimation on 330 green bonds issued in China from 2016 to 2019, and find that a higher level of provincial societal trust can significantly reduce the spread premium of green bonds. Further investigation reveals that because generalized social capital can take the place of an individual's particular social capital, trust has a more pronounced effect on bond spread when the issuer's ultimate controller has a less extensive social network.

Do strategic management, innovation and social capital matter for firm performance in developing countries? Evidence from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt

Do strategic management, innovation and social capital matter for firm performance in developing countries? Evidence from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt

Does social capital matter to stock price crash risk? Evidence from the US listed firms

Does social capital matter to stock price crash risk? Evidence from the US listed firms

CEO Overconfidence and open innovation in Chinese biopharmaceutical industry: does top management team social capital matter?

ABSTRACT Open innovation beyond organisational boundaries has become a key factor in improving enterprise performance and maintaining sustained competitive advantage. However, most research on the antecedents of open innovation has focused on external environment or organisational-level factors, and the exploration of the micro-level has not yet been sufficiently understood. Following the Upper Echelon Theory and Social Capital Theory, this study explores when CEO overconfidence influences the adoption of different open innovation modes. We developed a model by considering top management team (TMT) social capital as a moderating role from the CEO-TMT interaction perspective. Using a longitudinal data set of listed enterprises in the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry from 2013 to 2017, we find that CEO overconfidence promotes the adoption of the two open innovation modes (inbound and outbound). TMT social capital negatively moderates the effect of CEO overconfidence on outbound open innovation. However, the moderating effect is not significant between CEO overconfidence and inbound open innovation. Meanwhile, we conduct further analysis based on enterprise ownership. The findings provide new insights into the micro-foundation of open innovation.

Preventive health behaviors among the middle-aged and elderly in China: Does social capital matter?

This study explores the status quo of preventive care use and social capital among middle-aged and elderly people (≥45 years old) in China, and employs a multi-level model to analyze whether social capital at different levels is associated with preventive care use. The data are derived from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which includes 11,503 respondents and 450 communities. Preventive care use covers the utilization of routine physical examination services. Individual social capital is measured by the level of social network and social activities participation. Social network includes contacting with children or other people, for example, by phone, text message. Social activities participation is measured by the involvement in social activities, for example, playing mahjong, going to community club. Community social capital is evaluated by the richness of community facilities. Results reveals that the utilization of preventive care is 48.94% among middle-aged and elderly in China. The most used preventive service is routine blood test. The intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficient indicates that preventive health behaviors of the respondents are clustered at communities where they live. Multi-level regression shows that influence of social network is not significant to preventive care use (p ＞ 0.05). Community facilities and individual social activities participation are significantly associated with preventive care use (p < 0.05). The association between social capital and preventive care use could be considered as an important factor when making policies to promote preventive care use.

Does social capital matter? A study of hit-and-run in US counties

We investigate the relationship between social capital and a decision that has dire health consequences: fleeing after a road accident. This event is unplanned, and the decision is taken under great emotional distress and time pressure, thus providing a test of whether social capital matters for behaviour in extreme conditions. We merge data from the universe of fatality accidents involving pedestrians in the US over the period 2000–2018 with a dataset on social capital measures at the county level. Using within-state-year variation, our results show that one standard deviation increase in social capital is associated with a reduction in the probability of hit-and-run of around 10.5%. Several falsification tests based on differences in social capital endowment between the county where the accident occurs and the county where the driver resides are suggestive of a causal interpretation of this evidence. Our findings show the importance of social capital in a new context, suggesting a broad impact on pro-social behaviour and adding to the positive returns of promoting civic norms.

Does social capital matter to the Millennials? Social capital and user engagements in online video platforms

User engagements in video platforms are considered critical for not only businesses in measuring attention, but also for understanding social, cultural dynamics of a form of information platform that has increasingly become influential. For instance, different generations may perceive and engage in online video platforms differently. This study investigates various factors influencing online video platform user engagements in the forms of showing empathy (e.g., “like”), commenting, and sharing. In addition to traditional motivational factors informed by the uses and gratification theory, the study explores how perception of video platforms as social platforms play a mediating role and whether such effects are moderated by generation. A moderated mediation model positing mediating role of social capital and moderating role of generational difference tested against the three types of engagement. Results indicate intriguing generational effect between the Generation X and the Millennials on social capital’s role in online video platform engagement.

How social capital matters for receiving social support: on the complementary role of civil society in the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic has created a widespread need for social support. Similar to previous crises, we can observe activation in society to meet these needs: citizens have offered practical, emotional, and financial support, often within their social networks, but also to strangers and civil society organizations. In this paper, we examine the role of social capital in receiving social support during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany using unique micro-level survey data. We investigate the importance of three aspects of social capital – the size of one’s support network, social trust, and organizational membership – for receiving (sufficient) social support. We focus on three types of support networks: family and friends, neighbors, and civil society actors. First, we find that while all three elements of social capital matter for receiving social support, a larger support network and organizational embeddedness matter primarily for receiving support beyond family and friendship networks. Second, civil society actors have been less likely to provide sufficient support in the pandemic, mainly acting in addition to strong ties and providing complementary support for individuals in particular need.

Women entrepreneurs during COVID-19 pandemic: does their social capital matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to the role of bonding and bridging social capital of women entrepreneurs in dealing with the business crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA total of 24 women entrepreneurs from Deoria district from the state of Uttar Pradesh in India are selected through the snowball sampling technique. Out of these 24 female entrepreneurs, 14 belong to some network and 10 are not a part of any network. A qualitative methodology based upon in-depth personal interviews is used to get insights about the personal views of the female entrepreneurs on the role played by their bonding and bridging social capital to deal with the problems during the current business crisis.FindingsContrary to the general belief that women-owned businesses succumb easily to business crises and respond to reduce risks, the findings suggest that women business owners confidently faced the adverse business conditions. The bonding social capital of women entrepreneurs provided emotional support and motivation through internal interactions and responsibility sharing, and business networks (bridging capital) facilitated identification of new opportunities. The respondents emphatically mentioned the role of peer entrepreneurs as sources of information and resources.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study in the Indian context that seeks to investigate the role of bonding and bridging social capital during the business crisis induced by the current pandemic using qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews.

Knowledge sharing behavior among farmers in Indonesia: Does social capital matter?

Social capital has three important dimensions, namely, cognitive, relational and structural. It has a crucial role to enhance farmers’ income and knowledge in some developing countries. However, there is a lack of studies which validate the role of social capital to farmers’ income and knowledge sharing. The aims of this study are to examine the role of farmers’ social capital on knowledge sharing behavior through farmer community and personal expectations. The recent study also examines how mediators’ variables (individual and community expectations) influence farmers' knowledge sharing behavior. The study sample consisted of 720 Indonesian rice farmers from Sulawesi districts and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses. The empirical result indicates that structural, cognitive and relational social capital have a positive role in farmers' expectations. They facilitate community members in rural areas and connect people locally and regionally, as mediator variables, personal and community expectations also emerged as tools where people can explore, interact and share their expertise to develop knowledge sharing behavior. However, community expectations have a greater effect on facilitating knowledge sharing among farmers than personal expectations. This study provided insights on developing and enhancing farmers' economic and social life, which was neglected in prior studies. This research contributes to the literature on social capital theory and social connectedness. Hence, the farmers and the local government should address and identify their objective and rational concerns to improve their social capital. In addition, social capital also enhances the content and processes of farmers’ interactions to foster communication and value propositions in creating unique and valuable experiences. Local government should be aware of the essential components of interaction and effective two-way communications among farmers. Furthermore, social capital can also be treated as a tool that allows farmers to share their expertise and knowledge. The community and local government should solve problems for farmers in the future since it is easier and faster to access information and knowledge about production processes. Social capital also has economic and social value, enhancing a sense of belonging among farmers. Key words: Social capital, Farmer expectation, Knowledge Sharing behavior, Developing countries

In Virus Veritas Lockdown and Happiness Under COVID-19

It is widely accepted that individual happiness is not, or not solely, related to material possessions, at least once basic needs are fulfilled. It has been demonstrated that interpersonal relationships and social capital matter too, and people whose values are more centred on material possessions have a greater probability of being less happy. Is this still true during the COVID-19 pandemic, when interpersonal relations, health and economic security are threatened and feelings of insecurity emerge? This is the issue that we address in this paper. We exploited the unique natural situation of the pandemic and lockdown in Italy to investigate the relationship between happiness and relational and material goods. Data collected by questionnaire during the lockdown suggests that the main direct effect of the pandemic on the happiness of respondents was related to the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on interpersonal relationships. Those who declared that COVID and lockdown had jeopardized their interpersonal relationships were significantly less likely to report higher levels of happiness, especially when controlling for other personal and contextual covariates. An important gender, religious and town size effect also emerged. Moreover, relational goods and good health were considered to be the most important determinants of happiness, though people were not so worried about their own health.

Social capital I: measurement and associations with economic mobility

Social capital—the strength of an individual’s social network and community—has been identified as a potential determinant of outcomes ranging from education to health1–8. However, efforts to understand what types of social capital matter for these outcomes have been hindered by a lack of social network data. Here, in the first of a pair of papers9, we use data on 21 billion friendships from Facebook to study social capital. We measure and analyse three types of social capital by ZIP (postal) code in the United States: (1) connectedness between different types of people, such as those with low versus high socioeconomic status (SES); (2) social cohesion, such as the extent of cliques in friendship networks; and (3) civic engagement, such as rates of volunteering. These measures vary substantially across areas, but are not highly correlated with each other. We demonstrate the importance of distinguishing these forms of social capital by analysing their associations with economic mobility across areas. The share of high-SES friends among individuals with low SES—which we term economic connectedness—is among the strongest predictors of upward income mobility identified to date10,11. Other social capital measures are not strongly associated with economic mobility. If children with low-SES parents were to grow up in counties with economic connectedness comparable to that of the average child with high-SES parents, their incomes in adulthood would increase by 20% on average. Differences in economic connectedness can explain well-known relationships between upward income mobility and racial segregation, poverty rates, and inequality12–14. To support further research and policy interventions, we publicly release privacy-protected statistics on social capital by ZIP code at https://www.socialcapital.org.

The dynamics of crowdfunding campaigns in the Middle East: Does social capital matter?

The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamics of crowdfunding campaigns in the Middle East and raise the question of “does social capital matter” in this respect? The study uses the Zoomaal.com platform as a case study for 2019 and 2020. Required data was collected from Zoomaal.com and conducted online semi- structured interviews with key people in control to further explore the crowdfunding practice in the selected Middle Eastern countries (i.e., Turkey, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and UAE). The OLS robust standard error regression and logistic regression techniques were both utilized to test the study model. The findings reveal that social capital in the Middle East countries is very coherent and both structural dimension (DS) as measured by entrepreneurs’ interaction with the social media (such as Facebook and Instagram) and cognitive dimension (DC) as measured by the number of words that are composed by entrepreneurs in the Zoomaal.com platform has significant positive impacts on the crowdfunding campaign success. Moreover, we confirm our results to Zoomaal.com and conclude the main factors that influence the success or failure of a crowdfunding campaign in the Middle East.

The dynamics of crowdfunding campaigns in the Middle East: Does social capital matter?

The dynamics of crowdfunding campaigns in the Middle East: Does social capital matter?

Gender differences in objective and subjective social reproduction in China: do educational attainment and social capital matter?

Social reproduction can reflect the intergenerational transmission of advantages and reveal the inequality of society. However, limited research has been conducted on both objective and subjective social reproduction and their gender differences in China. Drawing on data from the China General Social Survey 2017, this study investigated objective and subjective social reproduction, using educational attainment and social capital as mediators. Multiple-group structural equation modeling was adopted to further examine gender differences in social reproduction in China. The results showed that only educational attainment could mediate objective social reproduction; while the mediating roles of educational attainment and social capital were both significant in subjective social reproduction. Gender differences were demonstrated in both objective and subjective social reproduction. These findings provide a comprehensive account of intergenerational social reproduction and its gender differentiation in China.

Where does corporate social capital matter the most? Evidence From the COVID-19 crisis

Firms with high social capital systematically outperform their peers during periods of economic distress. Yet, it is not clear under which institutional conditions corporate social capital is the most valuable to shareholders. By studying the performance of 1,789 firms in 27 countries during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, we document that the resilience effect of social capital is heterogeneous across countries. We identify the flexibility of a country's labor market as a critical determinant of corporate's returns on social capital-related investments. These findings are consistent with social capital hedging firms against systematic shocks by mitigating employee-related litigation risk.

From Presence to Influence: Gender, Nationality and Network Centrality of Corporate Directors

The enduring lack of diversity in the corporate elite continues to attract attention from scholars and practitioners. However, the issue of representation or ‘body count’ – in particular for women – tends to dominate the discussion and overshadows social-relational dimensions. Adopting a network perspective, this article investigates how gender and nationality interact with human and social capital (i.e. director capital), explaining why particular directors hold more influential positions in the corporate elite. Findings from Swiss data show that some specific aspects of human and social capital matter more than others for being an influential director and that, ceteris paribus, Swiss citizens benefit most from both sources of capital. The discussion engages with the implications of our findings on current approaches intended to increase the numbers of appointments of ‘diverse’ directors, and how these are expected to change the corporate elite and the related job market in the longer term.