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•Firms find it challenging to develop and sustain successful university-industry collaboration.•University-industry collaboration can be facilitated through cognitive and relational ...social capital.•Firms use different paths to develop social capital depending on their university-industry collaboration experience.•This provides a more precise understanding of how social capital dimensions interplay over time.
The use of university-industry collaboration in the innovation process is viewed as a major driver of firm competitiveness. The organizational dynamics underlying successful external relationships, however, remain poorly understood. Using longitudinal case studies of 15 innovation projects, we examine how firms with varying degrees of experience in collaborating with universities and public research organizations rely on different social capital dimensions to achieve successful collaborations. We find that experienced firms establish external collaborations on the basis of cognitive social capital, but this basis is reinforced by relational social capital over time. Conversely, less experienced firms initially base their university collaborations on relational social capital, which is reinforced by cognitive social capital over time. Based on these findings, we theorize on the interplay of different dimensions of social capital in university-industry collaborations over time. Our study has important implications for the management of collaborative innovation projects. In particular, it provides guidance to enable less experienced firms to develop successful collaborations with university partners.
•An explanatory model of individual social networks capitalization is proposed.•Lin’s model on inequality on social capital is contrasted and complemented based on ample social data.•We contrast the ...determinant variables on social mobilization of resources.•The diverse expressions of goal oriented individual social capital mobilization are analyzed.
The objective of the present paper is to characterize the structure of individual social networks and to provide new insights into the underlying mechanism of individual social capitalization process. In particular, we put to the test three main assumptions underlying Lin’s seminal explanatory model of individual social capital determinants (Lin, 2001). We analyzed the results of an extensive and specifically designed survey on personal networks in Spanish society (OSIM, 2011). Our findings, based on the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), regression and structural methods allow us to complement Lin’s general model distinguishing accessibility and mobilization of social resources. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests the need for introducing a significant distinction between instrumental-expert and expressive mobilization. Finally, our analysis allows us to identify the main determining factors of both forms of capitalization of personal relations.
Women and underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduates declare and complete science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors at different rates in comparison to majority groups. ...Explanations of these differences have long been deficit oriented, focusing on aptitude or similar characteristics, but more recent work focuses on institutional contexts, such as academic climate and feelings of belonging (fit). This study examines the experiences of women and URM students in engineering undergraduate programs, focusing on how they fit, experiential factors affecting fit, and how fit is mitigated by social relationships from their networks and organizations in which they participate (i.e., social capital). Thematic analysis of 55 women and URM interviewee responses shows that students who fit well were those with majority characteristics, including race (i.e., White, White‐passing) and gender (i.e., men, masculine appearance), and those in groups well represented in their programs numerically (i.e., men, Asian). In contrast, women and Black students encountered threats to their fit due to stereotyping from bias and differential treatment from others (i.e., being excluded from group work). However, students received advice from their social networks (i.e., family, professors) in which they were warned to expect discrimination, or through organizations in which they participated (i.e., National Association of Black Engineers) where their sense of community was expanded. The advice and resources provided through this network‐based and participatory social capital mitigated fit for women and Black students, albeit in different ways, helping to preserve their feelings of belonging and promote their persistence in engineering. We offer suggestions to enact university policies to increase access to social capital with homophilious alters and educational opportunities for majority groups.
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the concept of social capital and to distinguish its different forms, focusing on their potential effects on health. According to many scholars, ...social capital comprises social networks, norms of reciprocity or social support and social trust. In this article the core element, the social network, has been further distinguished by the direction of ties and levels of formality, strength and diversity. In the past few years there has been increased interest in social capital in the health field and a great deal of research has suggested that social capital is generally positively related to health. However, little research has been conducted into how different forms of social capital or social networks influence health. What is the difference, for instance, between bonding and bridging social capital in terms of health outcomes? It is important to distinguish the different forms because they imply different resources, support and obligations. More research needs to be conducted into the different forms of social capital and their effects on health. A special focus should be placed on the health impacts of cross-cutting -- or bridging and linking -- forms of social capital.
In this paper, we explore how the dynamics of knowledge transfer within a community depends on social capital and how the synergies generated by social capital can positively impact the co-ordination ...between member-nodes. This could lead to the evolution of a more complex and multi functional ICT enabled socio-technical system capable of enhanced co-creation of knowledge. In this context, we present the Digital Ecosystem (DE) concept as a prototype for a sustainable knowledge synthesizing network. A Digital ecosystem describes an ICT enabled network that displays associative and autopieotic properties. In other words, not only is a so defined network capable of self sustenance, but also of expansion through heightened inclusion (i.e., increasing heterogeneity in the network composition) and growth (i.e., increase in the size and scope of the network). In simple terms, a DE is a web of interconnected and interdependent ICT enabled users who transact in the digital mode resulting in synergistic benefits for all. The strength of this system is that it enables a resilient, multi-user exchange relationship capable of adjusting to change. The sustenance of a DE depends on co-operation between member-nodes of the network. This closely rejects the social capital embedded in community relationships. We then look at the evolution of norms and extended social ties within a DE and the effect on content co-creation. Finally, we outline the case of the DEAL (Digital ecosystem for Agriculture and Livelihood) project as an illustration of the digital ecosystem model outlined in the paper, in terms of its projected content creation, validation and sharing systems.
Social capital (SC) is a cornerstone of rural communities but is not well understood in terms of how Social Networking Sites (SNS) can be used to build and maintain SC online. There are limited ...studies which have attempted to measure SC online and its two distinct dimensions – bonding and bridging SC. The main objectives of this paper are to: (i) confirm that building and maintaining of SC online can be measured reliably and validly as two factors of bonding and bridging SC, and (ii) to determine to what extent the use of SNS facilitates building and maintaining bonding and bridging SC online when rural households have broadband connectivity. This study used a large-scale survey to collect quantitative data in the Western Downs Region of Queensland, Australia regarding households’ adoption and use of broadband Internet including use of SNS and their contribution to building and maintaining bonding and bridging SC online in rural communities. This study confirmed that SC online can be reliably and validly measured as a first order two-factor hierarchical model providing further support for the findings of previous empirical studies. Evaluating the association between SNS use and building and maintaining bonding and bridging SC online in rural communities showed that Heavy and Light users of SNS in rural communities are more likely to have higher levels of bonding and bridging SC online than Non-users of SNS. The findings also suggest that higher levels of SNS use are more effective in building and maintaining bridging SC online than bonding SC online. This suggests that SNS usages may be able to play an important role in building and maintaining SC and improving social connectivity both within rural communities such as WDR and more widely with other communities regardless of geographical location. This is despite the tyranny of distance and poor telecommunications which has historically been a communication barrier for rural communities.
•Social Capital (SC) Online can be modelled as two factors consisting of bonding and bridging SC.•SNS use is positively associated with building and maintaining bonding and bridging SC online.•SNS use is more effective in building and maintaining bridging SC than bonding SC online.•SNS use could be used to enhance and complement SC that already exists offline in rural communities.
•We investigate the family firm social capital studying internal relationships.•We demonstrate that internal social capital can enhance family firm innovation.•Family group relationships have a ...positive influence on family firm innovation.•Non-Family group relationships have a positive influence on family firm innovation.•Although both groups are necessary for family firm innovation, there is a signal that non-family social capital might have a greater incidence on family firm innovation.
Using a sample of 172 Spanish family firms and two responders per firm, consisting of a family member and a non-family member (344 returned questionnaires), we examine the effects of internal social capital on organisational innovation. Building on the relational, cognitive, and structural view, and on social capital theory, we propose that internal networking relationships between family members (family social capital) and between non-family members (non-family social capital) in family firms facilitates innovation. Moreover, its benefits flow from the relationships among the firm's internal groups. The results of structural equation models indicate that the social capital of both family members and non-family members has a direct and positive effect on innovation. Further, our findings provide evidence that non-family social capital is just as effective as family social capital for family firm innovation, establishing a new line of research from an empirical perspective. The findings also test whether social factors are key assets of family firm innovation.
The article presents the results of an empirical study of the conversion of two forms of capital - human and social in the conditions of private corporations in Russia, China, Spain. In theoretical ...studies, conversion is shown as a key synergistic moment in the creation of profits and rent. Based on a multiparadigm methodological approach, a methodology has been constructed that allows one to assess the degree of conversion of human and social capital in the value dimension. An analysis of the value networks of employees of corporations in Russia, China, Spain made it possible to draw general conclusions regarding sociodynamics and options for converting human and social capital: unity/harmony of capital; differentiation/disharmony of capital; different ratios of unity/differentiation of capital. Empirical material shows a significant difference in the characteristics of the conversion of human and social capital of Russians, Chinese and Spaniards according to the following criteria: the density of connections in the respondents' value networks; in the weight characteristics of indicators; in a specific manifestation of generalizing criteria - prosperity and team spirit. The proposed strategy for diagnosing capital conversion is of an applied nature and is used in several other studies.
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