Organizational Networks and Corporate Social Capital

Abstract

Corporate social capital is defined as processes of forming and mobilizing social actors’ network connections within and between organizations to gain access to other actors’ resources. Following a brief overview of basic network concepts and principles, I discuss alternative theoretical explanations for the origins, spread, transformation, and erosion of social capital. Two sections next investigate how network dynamics have reshaped corporate practices and changed the employment contract between workers and their firms. In conclusion, researchers should conduct more empirical investigations and construct better theories about the mechanisms through which social capital networks change the fates organizations and their participants.