The literature on social capital indicates that it can be an important element for enhancing economic activity in communities. Such an assertion is justified by theorizing that elements of social capital, namely trust, shared values, and established networks can form the basis for economic transactions, including labour market opportunities. However, little empirical analysis of these claims ha...

Intellectual capital reports usually consist of descriptions of various non-financial capital forms, such as for example “relational capital”. Considering relational capital as knowledge networks we explain the creation, transformation and re-use of knowledge with the help of the theory of social systems where knowledge is seen as a cooperative social construction. As a method for visualizing a...

This study proposes a structural approach to examining online bridging and bonding social capital in a large virtual world. It tests the effects of individual players’ network brokerage and closure on their task performance and trust of other players. Bridging social capital is operationalized as brokerage, the extent to which one is tied to disconnected others, and bonding social capital as cl...

This paper is concerned with the role of network administrative organizations (NAOs) in the development of social capital in inter-organizational networks aiming at supporting their members to innovate in the food sector through interacting with one another. A multi-case study approach is used whereby three Belgian inter-organizational networks are investigated i.e. Wagralim, Réseau-Club and Fl...

Electronic ties are loosening the constraints of organizational structure and physical proximity to allow connectivity between individuals who would otherwise find it difficult to identify and sustain contact with others who share the similar interests. This paper explores the knowledge exchange processes in extra-organizational networks of practice by studying three technical newsgroups. We ar...

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between virtuality and social capital. Does virtuality decrease the strength of individuals’ social ties? Or does virtuality increase social capital by expanding the range of individuals’ social networks? To address these questions, first, we identify the properties of virtuality, whose definition still varies in a variety of research s...

Social capital and health research has emerged as a focus of contemporary behavioral epidemiology, while intervention research is seeking more effective measures to increase health protective behaviors and decrease health-risk behaviors. In this review we explored current literature on social capital and health outcomes at the micro-, mesa-, and macro-levels with a particular emphasis on resear...

This study examined the development of individual social capital in a distributed learning community. Feld’s theory of focused choice predicts that the formation of network ties is constrained by contextual factors that function as foci of activities. In our research, we examined how group assignment and location could function as such foci to influence the development of individual social capi...

The aim of this study was to investigate comprehensive (classes 1-9) school teachers' views of the functionality of the social support networks in promoting pupils' health and well-being in school communities. This study belongs to the European Network of Health Promoting Schools programme (ENHPS) evaluation project in Finland. In this study partnership and the social support networks between h...

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between virtuality and social capital. Does virtuality decrease the strength of individuals’ social ties? Or does virtuality increase social capital by expanding the range of individuals’ social networks? To address these questions, first, we identify the properties of virtuality, whose definition still varies in a variety of research s...