10th Business & Management Conference, Paris

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN ORGANIZATIONS: PERCEPTION OF ASPECTS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

TOMÁŠ DANIA

Abstract:

The theory of social capital is known for decades. The topic of social capital was originally primarily covering public life and public relations. However, with the development of this theory its topic began to overlap with other ones. The attention was moved from the public sector to private sector, where the aspects of social capital are use at the level of businesses. There are multiple reasons to why this theory is developing as such: first of them being an unclear definition of the theory. The second important reason is the current labour market situation and other problems that businesses must deal with in relation to employees. The need and irreplaceability of the human factor in certain industries is obvious, human resources also act as a competition advantage. Therefore, focusing on employees makes sense – identifying factors that influence the group dynamic, communication, teamwork or sharing experience between employees are few of the things that need to be done. That requires not only an analysis of management of human resources, but also a detailed analysis of the relations between employees. In this context we can also apply the theory of social capital to the inside environment of the business – specifically the relations between employees. The research methodology comprises of two parts, primary and secondary data is used. The first part summarizes the factors listed in scientific publications. The second part is a research of qualitative data, specifically semi-structured interviews with CEOs, HR managers and academicians. Six people participated in this research – selected respondents judged the relevancy of the theory of social capital in relation to the business and assessed significance of individual factors on a five-point Likert scale. The interviews were recorded, transcripted and evaluated according to a ground-based theory. The research result proves the relevancy of the theory of social capital. The interviewed individuals agree on the potential usefulness of a modified version of the theory in the business environment. The respondents point out the quantity and the quality of relations, trust between employees, value match and sharing of these values, seamless communication and the style and approach of the management as the most important factors. The respondents also believe that these factors fundamentally affect the cultural environment of the business, they make the employees feel proud and loyal towards the business and thus indirectly create a competitive advantage.

Keywords: Corporate culture, employee loyalty, trust, social capital

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