Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

A growing number of sociologists, political scientists, economists, and organizational theorists have invoked the concept of social capital in the search for answers to a broadening range of questions being confronted in their own fields. Seeking to clarify the concept and help assess its utility for organizational theory, we synthesize the theoretical research undertaken in these various disciplines and develop a common conceptual framework that identifies the sources, benefits, risks, and contingencies of social capital.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4134367.pdf

Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept

Electronic networks of practice are computer-mediated discussion forums focused on problems of practice that enable individuals to exchange advice and ideas with others based on common interests. However, why individuals help strangers in these electronic networks is not well understood: there is no immediate benefit to the contributor, and free-riders are able to acquire the same knowledge as everyone else. To understand this paradox, we apply theories of collective action to examine how individual motivations and social capital influence knowledge contribution in electronic networks. This study reports on the activities of one electronic network supporting a professional legal association. Using archival, network, survey, and content analysis data, we empirically test a model of knowledge contribution. We find that people contribute their knowledge when they perceive that it enhances their professional reputations, when they have the experience to share, and when they are structurally embedded in the network. Surprisingly, contributions occur without regard to expectations of reciprocity from others or high levels of commitment to the network.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/25148667.pdf

Why should i share? examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice

In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

Thinking fast and slow.

This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between person‐job (PJ), person‐organization (PO), person‐group, and person‐supervisor fit with preentry (applicant attraction, job acceptance, intent to hire, job offer) and postentry individual-level criteria (attitudes, performance, withdrawal behaviors, strain, tenure). A search of published articles, conference presentations, dissertations, and working papers yielded 172 usable studies with 836 effect sizes. Nearly all of the credibility intervals did not include 0, indicating the broad generalizability of the relationships across situations. Various ways in which fit was conceptualized and measured, as well as issues of study design, were examined as moderators to these relationships in studies of PJ and PO fit. Interrelationships between the various types of fit are also meta-analyzed. 25 studies using polynomial regression as an analytic technique are reviewed separately, because of their unique approach to assessing fit. Broad themes emerging from the results are discussed to generate the implications for future research on fit.

/pdf/consequences-of-individuals-fit-at-work-a-meta-analysis-of-284auyl2s3.pdf

Consequences of individuals' fit at work: a meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit

We introduce the construct of organizational social capital and develop a model of its components and consequences Organizational social capital is defined as a resource reflecting the character of social relations within the organization It is realized through members' levels of collective goal orientation and shared trust, which create value by facilitating successful collective action We discuss employment practices as primary mechanisms by which social capital is fostered or discouraged within organizations

Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices

In this paper we examine social capital and its relationship with performance at the organizational level. We predict that both internal and external social capital will have a positive effect on organizational performance. We test our hypotheses in 88 urban public schools where we collected data from principals, teachers, parents, and students. Results indicate that both internal social capital (relations among teachers) and external social capital (relations between the principal and external stakeholders) predict student achievement in mathematics and reading. These effects were sustained over time for reading achievement, providing support for a causal relationship between social capital and performance. We provide evidence that social capitals impact on student achievement in mathbut not readingis mediated by the quality of instruction provided by teachers. These results underscore the importance of context in studies of social capital.

Social Capital and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Urban Public Schools

In this study we conducted performance assessments in 62 childcare centers and surveyed 232 teachers and aides, to examine the extent to which workers crafted their jobs and how such crafting affec...

Work Process and Quality of Care in Early Childhood Education: The Role of Job Crafting

We focus on two fundamental dimensions of corruption in organizations: (1) whether the individual or the organization is the beneficiary of the corrupt activity and (2) whether the corrupt behavior is undertaken by an individual actor or by two or more actors. We use these dimensions to define a new conceptualization of corruption at the organization level: the organization of corrupt individuals. We contrast this conceptualization with the prevailing concept of organizational corruption and develop propositions that highlight their differences.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20159431.pdf

Corrupt Organizations or Organizations of Corrupt Individuals? Two Types of Organization-Level Corruption

Organizations and individual employees increasingly are pursuing change in how work is organized, how it is managed, and in who is carrying it out. At the same time, there are numerous individual, organizational, and societal forces promoting stability in work and employment relations. Here we discuss change and stability and the forces pushing individuals and organizations to pursue both. We argue that some level of tension between stability and change is an inevitable part of organizational life and that this tension must characterize research on work and organizations.

Carrie R. Leana

Papers

Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices

Social Capital and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Urban Public Schools

Work Process and Quality of Care in Early Childhood Education: The Role of Job Crafting

Corrupt Organizations or Organizations of Corrupt Individuals? Two Types of Organization-Level Corruption

Stability and Change as Simultaneous Experiences in Organizational Life