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Journal ArticleDOI

The Network Structure Of Social Capital

01 Jan 2000-Research in Organizational Behavior (RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR)-Vol. 22, Iss: 22, pp 345-423
TL;DR: A review of argument and evidence on the connection between social networks and social capital can be found in this paper, where the authors focus on the network mechanisms responsible for social capital effects rather than trying to integrate across metaphors of social capital loosely tied to distant empirical indicators.
About: This article is published in Research in Organizational Behavior.The article was published on 2000-01-01. It has received 3441 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Structural holes & Social network.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: 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 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: 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.

8,518 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline the mechanism by which brokerage provides social capital, and show that between-group brokers are more likely to express ideas, less likely to have ideas dismissed, and more likely have ideas evaluated as valuable.
Abstract: This article outlines the mechanism by which brokerage provides social capital. Opinion and behavior are more homogeneous within than between groups, so people connected across groups are more familiar with alternative ways of thinking and behaving. Brokerage across the structural holes between groups provides a vision of options otherwise unseen, which is the mechanism by which brokerage becomes social capital. I review evidence consistent with the hypothesis, then look at the networks around managers in a large American electronics company. The organization is rife with structural holes, and brokerage has its expected correlates. Compensation, positive performance evaluations, promotions, and good ideas are disproportionately in the hands of people whose networks span structural holes. The between-group brokers are more likely to express ideas, less likely to have ideas dismissed, and more likely to have ideas evaluated as valuable. I close with implications for creativity and structural change.

4,442 citations


Cites background from "The Network Structure Of Social Cap..."

  • ...This is the social capital of brokerage (Burt 1992, 2000, 2002)....

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  • ...Burt (2000) reports a 27.9 average level of colleague network constraint for about a thousand senior managers drawn from five study populations, an average much lower than those in figure 2, even with controls for network size.9 Despite dense clustering within business units and around individual…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the developmental process of nascent entrepreneurs for 18 months and found that bridging and bonding social capital, consisting of both strong and weak ties, was a robust predictor for nascent entrepreneurs and advancing through the start-up process.

3,777 citations

Book Chapter
01 May 2003
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the developmental process of nascent entrepreneurs for 18 months and found that bridging and bonding social capital, consisting of both strong and weak ties, was a robust predictor for nascent entrepreneurs and advancing through the start-up process.
Abstract: This study examines nascent entrepreneurship by comparing individuals engaged in nascent activities (n=380) with a control group (n=608), after screening a sample from the general population (n=30,427). The study then follows the developmental process of nascent entrepreneurs for 18 months. Bridging and bonding social capital, consisting of both strong and weak ties, was a robust predictor for nascent entrepreneurs, as well as for advancing through the start-up process. With regard to outcomes like first sale or showing a profit, only one aspect of social capital, viz. being a member of a business network, had a statistically significant positive effect. The study supports human capital in predicting entry into nascent entrepreneurship, but only weakly for carrying the start-up process towards successful completion.

3,414 citations


Cites background from "The Network Structure Of Social Cap..."

  • ...These consist of the pattern of particular ties between actors, where variation in the network in the existence or strength of ties is meaningful and consequential ( Burt, 2000; Cook and Whitmeyer, 1992, p. 118)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that social cohesion around a relationship affects the willingness and motivation of individuals to invest time, energy, and effort in sharing knowledge with others and that the network range, ties to different knowledge pools, increases a person's ability to convey complex ideas to heterogeneous audiences.
Abstract: This research considers how different features of informal networks affect knowledge transfer. As a complement to previous research that has emphasized the dyadic tie strength component of informal...

3,319 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another, and the impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored.
Abstract: Analysis of social networks is suggested as a tool for linking micro and macro levels of sociological theory. The procedure is illustrated by elaboration of the macro implications of one aspect of small-scale interaction: the strength of dyadic ties. It is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another. The impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored. Stress is laid on the cohesive power of weak ties. Most network models deal, implicitly, with strong ties, thus confining their applicability to small, well-defined groups. Emphasis on weak ties lends itself to discussion of relations between groups and to analysis of segments of social structure not easily defined in terms of primary groups.

37,560 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
Abstract: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...

31,693 citations


"The Network Structure Of Social Cap..." refers background in this paper

  • ...1, 347The Network Structure of Social Capital defines social capital as a function of social structure producing advantage (Coleman, 1990, p. 302; from Coleman 1988, S98)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities.
Abstract: In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures. **

31,623 citations


"The Network Structure Of Social Cap..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends.” which can be studied in terms of industry factors that facilitate absorption (e.g. Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) and external networks that enhance an organization’s absorptive capacity (e.g. Cockburn & Henderson, 1998)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the relation between the exploration of new possibilities and the exploitation of old certainties in organizational learning and examine some complications in allocating resources between the two, particularly those introduced by the distribution of costs and benefits across time and space.
Abstract: This paper considers the relation between the exploration of new possibilities and the exploitation of old certainties in organizational learning. It examines some complications in allocating resources between the two, particularly those introduced by the distribution of costs and benefits across time and space, and the effects of ecological interaction. Two general situations involving the development and use of knowledge in organizations are modeled. The first is the case of mutual learning between members of an organization and an organizational code. The second is the case of learning and competitive advantage in competition for primacy. The paper develops an argument that adaptive processes, by refining exploitation more rapidly than exploration, are likely to become effective in the short run but self-destructive in the long run. The possibility that certain common organizational practices ameliorate that tendency is assessed.

16,377 citations

Book
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this article, a new approach to describing both stability and change in social systems by linking the behavior of individuals to organizational behavior is proposed. But the approach is not suitable for large-scale systems.
Abstract: Suggests a new approach to describing both stability and change in social systems by linking the behavior of individuals to organizational behavior.

16,017 citations