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Workplace Social Capital and Health

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Global Perspectives on Social Capital and Health

Abstract

Social capital involves social relations and networks, norms of reciprocity, and trust, which facilitate co-ordination and cooperation for mutual benefit. Traditionally, social capital has been studied in neighbourhoods, communities, societies and even nations. More recently, however, researchers have also examined social capital at workplaces. This is justifiable because, by definition, social capital is not restricted to any particular social entity or social networks of any specific size. Furthermore, at work, people are typically exposed to a reasonable amount of social relations and day-to-day interactions. Thus, the workplace may constitute an important social context for social capital.

This chapter introduces the recent extension of social capital research into workplaces. We first discuss the conceptual and empirical backgrounds of workplace social capital research, highlighting the relations with this research in community settings. Then we review the ways in which social capital has been assessed at workplaces, and look at the research on social capital at the workplace as a determinant of employee health. In addition, we provide results from a comparative study between Finland and Japan, to highlight the extent to which this association may be dependent on cultural context. We close this chapter by suggesting directions for further social capital research in workplaces.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    When using multilevel analyses in social capital research, individual variables are usually aggregated into the higher level unit to define group-level social capital. Typically, the aggregated measure includes responses of every individual belonging to that group (i.e., it constitutes a self-included measure). More recently, researchers have developed an aggregate measure which excludes the response of the individual to whom the aggregate measure is linked (i.e., a self-excluded measure). For details about the substantive and technical properties of these two measures, see Suzuki, Yamamoto, Takao, Kawachi, and Subramanian (2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Lemminkäisenkatu 14-18B, Turku, 20520, Finland

    Tuula Oksanen M.D., Ph.D. & Jussi Vahtera M.D., Ph.D.

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, 700-8558, Japan

    Etsuji Suzuki M.D., Ph.D. & Soshi Takao M.D., Ph.D.

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, London, UK

    Mika Kivimäki Ph.D.

  4. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41, Helsinki, 00250, Finland

    Mika Kivimäki Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Tuula Oksanen M.D., Ph.D.
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  2. Etsuji Suzuki M.D., Ph.D.
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  3. Soshi Takao M.D., Ph.D.
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  4. Jussi Vahtera M.D., Ph.D.
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  5. Mika Kivimäki Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Tuula Oksanen M.D., Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Social & Behavioral Sciences, Harvard University, Huntington Ave. 677, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Ichiro Kawachi

  2. , Department of Epidemiology, Okayama University Graduate School of Me, Shikata-cho 2-5-1, Okayama City, 700-8558, Japan

    Soshi Takao

  3. Dept Social & Behavioral Sciences, Harvard University, Huntington Ave. 677, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    S.V. Subramanian

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Oksanen, T., Suzuki, E., Takao, S., Vahtera, J., Kivimäki, M. (2013). Workplace Social Capital and Health. In: Kawachi, I., Takao, S., Subramanian, S. (eds) Global Perspectives on Social Capital and Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7464-7_2

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