Social Capital Research Articles

Social Determinants of Health and Parent and Child Physical Activity: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Exploration among Socioeconomically and Racially and Ethnically Diverse Families.

PurposeTo examine the associations between baseline social determinants of health (SDOH) and physical activity (PA) in children and parents cross-sectionally (baseline) and longitudinally (18-months later).DesignCross-sectional and longitudinal.SettingFamily Matters Cohort Study, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.SampleParents with children aged 5-9 years (n = 1146).MeasuresParent self-reported (1) 25 SDOH factors mapped across 5 domains and (2) parent and children moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA).AnalysisAdjusted linear regression models.ResultsEach of the SDOH domains were positively associated with parents and children MVPA levels (all P < 0.05), except Economic Stability (all P > 0.05). Families with high family functioning reported higher MVPA among children, cross-sectionally (β 1.27; 95% CI [0.67, 1.87]) and longitudinally (β 0.87; 95% CI [0.29, 1.46]). Parents exhibited higher levels of MVPA both cross-sectionally (β 0.66; 95% CI [0.11, 1.21]) and longitudinally (β 0.73; 95% CI [0.21, 1.26]) when they had greater social capital. Children also exhibited increased MVPA (β 1.10; 95% CI [0.41, 1.79]) when living in areas with high walkability to recreational places.ConclusionResults indicate that SDOH may shape the PA habits of parents and children in a racially/ethnically diverse population. To advance health equity and support engagement in PA, researchers and clinicians should take into consideration SDOH factors related to a family's educational, social, home, family functioning, and neighborhood environments.

Livelihood capital access and sustainable livelihood outcomes of park adjacent communities in Uganda

PurposeThe paper aims at investigating the association between dimensions of livelihood capital access including financial, human, physical, natural, social, cultural, institutional capital access and sustainable livelihood outcomes – improved well-being. The study aims at establishing whether livelihood capital access enhances the livelihoods of national park adjacent communities in Uganda.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative approach and cross-sectional research design. A theoretically driven model was tested on data from 364 respondents from Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test relationships between the study variables.FindingsThe results indicate that among the seven distinct forms of capital access, financial, human, physical and social capital are the most crucial. Accessing financial, human, physical and social capital has been shown to significantly enhance the livelihoods of communities residing adjacent to national parks.Originality/valueThis study adds to the body of sustainable livelihoods literature by highlighting how access to livelihood capital impacts the sustainable livelihoods. The research suggests prioritizing the improvement of access to financial, human, physical and social resources, with a particular emphasis on integrating livelihood capital access into livelihood and tourism policies.

Applying Social Marketing Principles for Community-Based Cancer Screening Programs: Two Case Studies.

Minoritized communities often experience worse health outcomes on the cancer continuum. Mainstream strategies may have limited reach and utility to populations experiencing inequities in real-world settings. Through the combined use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and social marketing strategies, which highlight community-centered and culturally adapted processes, we provide an approach to inform future intervention research across various health topics that has been successful in engaging minoritized and understudied communities. We present two case studies that used participatory social marketing principles to culturally adapt evidence-based cancer screening programs for two communities in New York City. The first program is a campaign to increase screening and vaccination for hepatitis B among Korean and Chinese American immigrants. The second is a culturally adapted program to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among a multiracial and ethnic population of Muslim women. These case studies illustrate the benefits of integrating social marketing and CBPR approaches as a key strategy when developing public health campaigns to effectively reach and influence health behaviors in partnership with communities that have been socially marginalized and historically underserved.

Association between social capital and mortality among community-dwelling older adults in Myanmar 2018–2022: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundHealthy aging is crucial in Asia given its rapidly aging society. Social capital, which refers to the resources derived from social networks, norms, and trust that facilitate cooperation and collective action within a community or society, has demonstrated health benefits for older adults. However, its impact varies by country. Most research focuses on high-income countries, with little attention on low- and middle-income countries.MethodsThis prospective cohort study examined the effects of social capital on all-cause mortality among older adults in Myanmar from 2018 to 2022, using structured questionnaires based on the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study. Multistage random sampling and face-to-face interviews were conducted with community-dwelling older adults aged 60 and above in Yangon and Bago in 2018. Subsequently, three waves of follow-up telephone surveys were conducted in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The questionnaires evaluated three components of social capital: civic participation, social cohesion, and social support, alongside baseline demographic information. Their impact on all-cause mortality was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model with multiple imputations, adjusting for potential confounders including age, gender, body mass index, self-rated health, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, illness, and residential area.ResultsA total of 1200 individuals were followed for an average of 2.6 years (3123 person-years), with 143 all-cause deaths observed among 1031 participants. Bivariate analyses showed that participants who died were more likely to be older, underweight, have shorter daily walking times, live in Bago, and have less social support. Higher social support was significantly associated with lower mortality after adjusting for all covariates (HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.69–0.94). Specifically, instrumental support, defined as the exchange of practical assistance, such as receiving or providing care during illness, was found to be protectively associated with mortality. When stratified by residential area, significant associations were found only in Bago, a rural area. Among older adults in Myanmar, instrumental support was a more prominent protector against all-cause mortality than emotional support, especially in rural areas.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that social support networks play an important role in the survival of older adults in Myanmar, even under unstable social conditions.

Family support resources at the transition—vocational orientation and paths of young people after non-grammar school education programmes before and during the corona pandemic in Germany

Abstract The transition to vocational education and training is an important biographical milestone and at the same time a central developmental task of adolescence that is not always successfully mastered. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and with low levels of education are more likely to take problematic transition paths—partly because they have less supportive capital from their families. This article examines the connection between the quality of relationships in the family and vocational goal orientation at the end of secondary level 1 as well as post-school transition paths in the pandemic. Cultural and economic capital are also taken into account on the basis of capital theory. The analyses are based on a quantitative longitudinal survey of young people in non-grammar school education in Germany during the pandemic. While social capital in the family has some strong supportive effects on vocational goal orientation, especially for realisability and self-efficacy expectations, there are no direct effects of social capital on the transition path during the pandemic. However, indirect effects can be assumed, as the vocational goal orientation at the end of school positively influences the transition pathways afterwards. The results emphasise the role of the family as social capital for the development of career prospects on the one hand and the importance of career goal orientation for safe and continuous transition paths during the pandemic on the other.

Value creation and the international film festival circuit: the Cannes 2020 label

ABSTRACT In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of the Cannes Film Festival announced a roster of films and bestowed the Cannes ‘label’ upon selected titles without making them accessible to an audience. This study analyzes this unique ‘phantom festival’ and explores the process of value creation through association with a festival brand. Without any of the tangible benefits of festival participation (awards, sales, media coverage), what are the potential benefits for various stakeholders including filmmakers, audiences, and the festival itself? This analysis contributes to the scholarly literature about the impact of the pandemic on the film industry and examines what constitutes a film ‘festival’ in the first place. How did our most basic assumptions about the festival phenomenon evolve due to the restrictions caused by the global health crisis? As its theoretical foundation, this inquiry utilizes the notions of symbolic and social capital to unpack how value addition occurs in festivals. Using data on the post-Cannes trajectories of multiple films and trade press interviews with the festival’s general delegate Thierry Frémaux, I argue that the Cannes label functioned as a tool to create social capital that reaffirmed the festival’s claim to centrality in an interconnected network.

Can data visualization storytelling in energy communication campaigns ingrain farmers’ intentions to use agrivoltaic system? Evidence from global south

Purpose Innovative technologies pave the way to address alarming global climate issues. Among these technologies is the expansion of renewable and clean energy in farming, which aims to meet the global cheap energy demand and, at the same time, replace fossil fuels. In pursuant to this, agrivoltaic technology is an innovation that provides sustainable and low-cost production solutions to diminish the adversities associated with climate change and global warming. However, farmers from developing nations remain unacquainted or unenthusiastic about adopting such sustainable technologies. Therefore, in response to these key challenges related to climate change, this study aims to provide the utility of communication resources to inspire climate-friendly behaviors among farmers. Design/methodology/approach This study used a cross-sectional field survey method for data collection from 992 farmers. Findings The results verified that using data visualization storytelling in communication campaigns could significantly enhance farmers’ public understanding of adopting renewable technologies. Research limitations/implications Theoretically, results highlighted the importance of communication strategies in a downward spiral of ongoing challenges of optimal climate protection, counteracting rebound effects and reducing carbon emissions. Practical implications The novel contribution of this research by examining the data visualization storytelling in climate and energy communication campaigns paved the way for social marketers to develop a straightforward and user-friendly platform for implementing innovative renewable technologies. Originality/value This research underpinned a novel approach that remains understudied to understand how data visualization storytelling supports renewable technology adoption. Furthermore, it addressed the timely call for research on how data visualization storytelling can assist in achieving UNSD goals 12 and 13 by promoting renewable technologies among the farmers from the neglected area of the Global South.

Associations between social participation and psychological distress among older adults with hypertension in rural China: The mediating role of social capital.

Psychological distress in older adults with hypertension in rural China significantly impacts their families and society. This study aims to explore how social participation affects psychological distress among older adults with hypertension in rural China, focusing on the mediating role of social capital. A total of 950 respondents completed surveys measuring social participation based on the frequency of social, recreational, and literary activities, the Resource Generator China scale, and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships between the variables. The results showed that social participation significantly affects psychological distress, with social capital mediating this relationship. The indirect effect of social capital accounted for 61.0% of the total effect. These findings suggest targeted interventions in social participation and social capital to reduce psychological distress among rural elderly individuals with hypertension in China.

Instagram Analysis: Country Comparison on Purchase Intention

This study examines the differences between Instagram users from the USA and Turkey in terms of brand-generated content, consumer-generated content, brand influencers, and brand engagement. Although the purpose of usage could be similar in different regions, Instagram user expectations could change for different countries. Social media marketers can alter their strategies based on cultural differences and Instagram user habits in the countries to attract more customers. Based on cultural differences and user preference, Instagram post and ad content might be updated. Online survey was developed, and data collected from the U.S. and Turkish participants. The findings exhibit audience segmentation and targeting, focus on behavior change (not only awareness or knowledge) and audience orientation/focus social marketing concepts.

To bond or bridge: how do populist attitudes intensify the effect of online social capital on political engagement?

The latest 2024 Taiwan General Election proved to be yet another arena for populist politics, with candidates aligning their stances and aspirations with populism, uniting “the people” through different means. With an intensifying populist atmosphere not only in Taiwan but in various democracies across the globe, this timely study seeks to explore the impact of populism on individual behaviors. Specifically, given the wide body of existing literature on conventional politics, we aim to shift attention to the online context. By regarding populism as a moderator, we examine its effect on the association between both online bonding and bridging social capital, political efficacy, and online political engagement. Data from 450 young adults are analyzed with a moderated mediation model as well as a co-moderation model, the former with populism as the sole moderator, and the latter with populism and socioeconomic status as co-moderators. Upon confirming the association between online social capital and engagement along with the mediating effect of political efficacy, the highlight of our study lies in our finding that populism significantly moderates both online bonding and bridging social capital to political efficacy, but in opposing manners. Populism, furthermore, proves to be insignificant in directly moderating any paths to online engagement, while socioeconomic status moderates the association between online bonding social capital and online political engagement. In addition, the distinct party-led system and underlying political atmosphere in Taiwan will be addressed and discussed, in terms of their impact on our findings.

Working group engagement as a precondition of successful community engagement in an expert-led social marketing public health intervention: Learning from the footprints.

A public health society working group wanted to use social marketing approaches to engage with a community and stimulate social support for a health treatment. The group struggled to collect effectiveness (summative) data during the project. To make up for this lack, the group explored ways to measure effectiveness of engagement (the primary outcome) based on written records (meeting minutes) kept during the project. The working group kept minutes of meetings that contained records of the level of participation of members by names. The text of 18 meetings (14,000 words) was edited so that the names of participants were replaced with roles that corresponded to working group members' roles: grassroots health advocates, community health agency representatives, and experts or knowledge leaders. The corpus was imported into a text analysis platform that measured word frequency. Results were tallied for the three categories of group member roles. To validate the method as a meaningful summative evaluation, the text analysis approach was critiqued using a developmental evaluation framework. The text analysis evaluation indicated that the word frequency of "partner," (community health partner), "community" (grassroots health advocates), and "expert" (or knowledge leaders) tags began to converge as the campaign progressed. Initially, experts and community health partners spoke less in meetings, and community members spoke more. Over time, all members began contributing more equally during the meetings. The checklist evaluation indicated alignment of the technique with established evaluation protocols used in the field of public health. The text and checklist analyses support the notion that engagement among working group members may be, and thus may be seen as, a precondition of engagement with the community. When used with evidence from event evaluations, the innovation may be used as an argument for effectiveness as an outcome in community-based public health campaigns that do not use conventional project (summative) evaluations.

The association between social capital and drug overdose mortality in the United States.

The association between social capital and drug overdose mortality in the United States.

Using a social marketing approach to increase the pap-smear test uptake: randomized controlled trial among women residing in urban region

BackgroundSocial marketing intervention is a strategy to improve intention and behavior in this field. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the impact of social marketing intervention on Pap-smear test uptake.MethodsThe study conducted between June 5th 2023 and August 6th 2023. This study is registered in IRCT (code: IRCT20221126056609N1 & Registration date: 2023-04-27) The population studied were married women aged 18 to 65 living in Qazvin City. Comprehensive health service centers of Qazvin city were clustered for sampling and samples were randomly taken from each cluster and randomly divided into two control and intervention groups. Demographic, social, and economic information was collected before the intervention for both intervention and control groups. The intervention was based on four marketing mixes (product, price, place, and promotion). After three months, the pap smear test uptake was examined in both intervention and control groups. The data were analyzed by performing paired t-tests, chi-square, and odds ratio estimation in SPSS and Stata software.ResultsThe findings showed that there was a significant difference in Pap smear test uptake between the intervention and control groups after the intervention. So the participant who intervened had about 12 times more chance of a test uptake and this chance in the follow-up period was 5 times more than the control group.ConclusionThe findings of the present study showed that the intervention based on social marketing increases awareness, perceived risk, and the demand for Pap smear tests among women. By influencing women’s intention and behavior, they can be led to participate in screening. For this purpose, a multifaceted intervention should be designed based on the barriers and facilitators of test’s demand.Trial registrationThis study is registered in IRCT (code: IRCT20221126056609N1 & Registration date: 2023-04-27).

Examining the Impact of Board Diversity on Firm Performance: Insights from Demographics, Human Capital, Social Capital, Culture and Structure

Examining the Impact of Board Diversity on Firm Performance: Insights from Demographics, Human Capital, Social Capital, Culture and Structure

A Valley of Aspirations: Examining the Factors Influencing the College Persistence of Rural Latinx Undergraduates from California’s San Joaquin Valley

ABSTRACT This study examines the college persistence of rural Latinx undergraduate students, focusing on the factors that contribute to their persistence in higher education. While extensive research has explored Latinx college persistence, studies addressing rural students’ experiences remain scarce. Using Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, this qualitative study analyzed the experiences of 15 rural Latinx students from California’s San Joaquin Valley attending a public, four-year, research-intensive university. Data was collected through Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas, emphasizing participants’ lived experiences. Findings revealed that students drew on aspirational, resistant, and social capitals to navigate educational barriers. Parental encouragement and immigrant farm working backgrounds were significant sources of aspirational capital, motivating students to pursue careers beyond agricultural labor. Students also used resistant capital to challenge racialized stereotypes about rural Latinx communities and higher education aspirations. Social capital emerged as a future-oriented vision, with students committed to returning to their rural communities to create generational change. This study highlights the critical role of familial, cultural, and geographical contexts in shaping educational trajectories for rural Latinx students. The findings suggest that universities should adopt asset-based approaches to support rural Latinx students and foster community engagement and development opportunities to support the college persistence of college students.

Conflict, trauma, and coping: The experiences of internally displaced people in northern Ethiopia.

As of June 2023, there are more than 4,380,000 internally displaced people in Ethiopia due to conflict, drought, and social tension. This study examined the traumatic experiences of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Wag-Hemra Zone of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia and the coping mechanisms utilized to overcome the impacts of their forced displacement. An exploratory qualitative design was used to guide the study. A purposive sampling technique was applied to select 12 IDPs from the Weleh IDP camp in Sekota town. A semistructured interview guide was developed, tested, and used to collect data through in-depth interviews that lasted for an average of 35 min. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive thematic analysis was performed using Nvivo14 qualitative software. Two major themes and six subthemes emerged from the analysis. Under the first theme, traumatic experiences, subthemes included escaping death and a traumatic journey, experiencing and witnessing violence and suffering, and loss and separation. Under the second theme, coping mechanisms, subthemes included religion and spirituality, optimism and positivity, and social support. The study highlighted the grave mental health implications of conflict and forced displacement that participants experienced and the dire need for urgent mental health interventions in Ethiopia's conflict-torn region. Mental health efforts should focus on enhancing social capital, leveraging spirituality, and promoting the communal culture to foster resilience and buffer the effects of traumatic events among IDPs.

CEO social capital and implied cost of capital: Based on the empirical evidence of Chinese family businesses.

Social capital plays a crucial role in resource integration within Chinese family businesses. This research investigates the relationship between CEO social capital and the implied cost of capital, while also considering the influence of CEO type on this relationship. The empirical results based on China's A-share family-listed companies show that CEO social capital helps to reduce the implied capital cost of family business. However, compared with non-family CEO, the effect of family CEO social capital on reducing the implied cost of capital is weaker. The mechanism analysis confirms that CEO social capital reduces the implied cost of capital through reducing corporate risk and improving information transparency. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that CEO social capital significantly reduces the implicit cost of capital only in entrepreneurial families, companies with low family control, and those without intergenerational transmission. Additionally, the effect of CEO social capital is more pronounced in fiercely competitive markets and high-tech industries. When economic policy uncertainty is high and investor legal protections are weak, CEO social capital can better exert its complementary effect on formal institutions. These findings not only provide a theoretical foundation for leveraging the informal system of social capital to strengthen family governance but also offer practical insights for addressing the classic decision of whether to choose family succession or hire professional managers.

Role of Social Media and Influencer Marketing on Consumer Purchasing Decisions

The emergence of social media has completely changed how customers communicate with influencers, engage with brands, and make verdicts around what to purchase. This study gives us an aspect at in what way social media and influencer marketing have an important influence on what people buy A critical examination of the body of literature shows that social media platforms and influencers play a significant role in shaping the opinions, preferences, and buying habits of consumers. The findings highlight the importance of influencer partnerships, social media marketing strategies, and online reputation management in shaping customer purchasing decisions. For companies, brands, and marketers seeking to leverage social media and influencer marketing to boost customer engagement, loyalty, and sales, this research provides valuable information.

The Relationship between Social Capital and the Market Integration of Farms – Examples from Central and Eastern Europe

The economic situation of farms is determined by a number of factors, which have been widely described in the literature. One factor is market integration, which shapes the farmer’s position in the food supply chain. The involvement of farmers in the integration may be related to their social capital, although this hypothesis has not been fully verified. Thus, the aim of the article is to assess the relationship between the level of social capital and the market integration of farms in selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The analysis includes Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Serbia and Moldova, and the sample consists of a total of 3160 farms. Data were collected personally by the authors through face-to-face interviews with farm managers. Based on these data, the authors’ market integration index was calculated and the level of social capital of farms was determined. A comparative analysis of average market integration indices for farms with different degrees of social capital was then carried out separately for each country. The Mann-Whitney U-test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to determine the significance of differences. The findings reveal that the highest value of the market integration was recorded for those farmers who were most strongly ‘socialised’, i.e. who participated in long-life education, took part in social events and were members of various organisations. A very important implication of this is that by strengthening social capital, farms aim to strengthen integration into the market, which can consequently lead to improved economic performance. Therefore, mitigating regional disparities and increasing the average level of agricultural performance in CEE countries should include measures to increase social capital on farms, i.e. providing workshops, training, and exhibitions, as well as supporting agricultural producer organizations, promoting rural housewives’ circles, and organising social events, among others. Such activities can be financed both from the second pillar of the common agricultural policy and from local government budgets. The contribution of the research focuses on the rarely undertaken subject matter of the relationship between social capital and market integration in farms. The added value consists of 1) a comparative analysis of five CEE countries and 2) an estimation of the authors’ indicators of social capital and market integration of farms, which could be used in the future for similar research.

The impact and mechanism of neighbourhood social capital on mental health: a cross-sectional survey based on the floating elderly population in China

BackgroundUnder the definition of positive mental health, the present study focused on the emerging group of floating elderly to explore the impact and mediating mechanisms of bonding and bridging neighbourhood social capital on their mental health.MethodsThe data were sourced from community surveys in three major cities in Guangdong Province, China, with a total of 659 respondents aged 55 and above. Structural equation modelling was used to verify the hypotheses proposed in this study.ResultsThe latent variables of bonding and bridging neighbourhood social capital were established. After controlling for the main demographic and social characteristic variables, bonding neighbourhood social capital had a significant positive impact on the happiness of floating elderly (beta=0.484, p<0.05). Bridging neighbourhood social capital was beneficial for alleviating the tendency towards mental illness (beta=-0.545, p<0.05). Physical exercise and psychological integration were mediating mechanisms that connected bonding neighbourhood social capital and happiness (RIT=0.313, p<0.05; RIT=0.674, p<0.001). Social adaptation was found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between bridging neighbourhood social capital and mental illness (RIT=0.088, p<0.05).ConclusionsBy incorporating the geographical concept of neighbours into the discussion, the findings support the utility of social capital theory in the context of the floating elderly population and Chinese cities. By classifying neighbourhood social capital, the impact of bonding and bridging social capital on different dimensions of mental health is revealed, further expanding the mechanism of the mental health effect of social capital. Cultivating neighbourhood social capital and transforming individual interaction needs into practical actions should be included in the construction of mental health promotion policies