Social capital Management
Year:2020 | Volume:6 | Issue:4|Papers Count:7

The main goal of this study is to analyze the complex and dynamic behavior of influential participants in the process of social capital. Considering the complex nature of human relations, this study seeks to describe the mechanisms of trust networks and normalization as sub-systems of social capital and their mutual relations, their effects on economic and social systems, and the way they bring about profitability. By taking account of the theoretical framework developed by nine experts in this field and through Fuzzy Analytical Network Process and combining it with system dynamic methodology, three sub-systems were designed. Using Venism software, a general model was simulated in which the behavior of these mechanisms could be analyzed in different situations. Considering the structure of the model and the behavior of the systems, and analyzing the sensitivity level of proposed policies, one could map optimistic, pessimistic and normal scenarios based on the proposed eightfold policies. Finally, a comparison of the most likely scenario with the current state of affairs and the initial state of the actual system allowed us to select the optimal policy for the implementation of long term changes.

Right after the formation of the first human communities during the history, the adoption of certain measures to increase the sense of security and to prevent crime perpetration in urban spaces has been an objective for the humans. From the viewpoint of the sociological approach to security, this concept cannot be analyzed in an isolated manner away from the social factors contributing to it. One of the non-material aspects emphasized in the provision of the security regards the social capital factors that can help individuals and groups attain public interests such as security and sense of security, and can assist governmental institutions improve the effectiveness of their performance. Accordingly, the study at hand has adopted a descriptive-analytical approach to measure the social capital factors effective on citizens’ sense of security and to provide solutions to remove the factors contributing to insecurity in Nourabad city. Based on Morgan’ s table, a sample of 383 participants was selected through stratified random sampling from different districts of this city, and a questionnaire was distributed among the participants for data collection purposes. The results of data analysis showed that Nourabad citizens have a low sense of security (t=-8. 69). Moreover, there is a significant relationship between social capital factors and the sense of security in Nourabad districts. The identification of these factors in the districts and the estimation of their effectiveness can help us take effective measures and implement plans to the prevent crimes.

Social capital is considered as a key concept in the study of the nature of society. The weakening of social capital can have many negative consequences in various individual and social spheres. One of the variables influencing social capital is social norms. Social norms as an effective component of social capital have been studied in many studies, the findings of which in many cases indicate the weakening of social norms in Iran. The main question in this article was whether changes in macroeconomic variables affect social capital in Iran? It seems that macroeconomic variables have had an impact on the occurrence and aggravation of social anomalies in the Iranian society from 1997 to 2013 during four government administrations. Adopting a qualitative research and using library information and the data obtained from national surveys, the study at hand investigated this issue. In the first step, the effect of macroeconomic variables such as inflation and unemployment on social norms in the Iranian society was investigated. In the next step, the results of these variables were used to show the weakening of social norms. The findings of the study revealed that with negative changes in macroeconomic variables, we have witnessed the weakening of social norms and, consequently, the weakening of social capital in Iran.

Tourism is one of the factors that bring about economic development and prosperity. The capital gained from foreign tourism increases the revenues of a country. Tourism and security are two highly related issues, and if security is not taken into account, the number of foreign tourists will decrease. Related to this relationship is social capital, which contributes to the sense of security. The study at hand examines the role of social capital dimensions on the security and the role of security on the development of foreign tourism. The study at hand is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of method. In order to collect data, library research and survey methods were used. The main data collection instrument was a questionnaire. The research population involved the foreign tourists in Mashhad who travelled to this city in July 2018. Out of these, 200 participants were selected as the study sample using convenience sampling method. In order to analyze the data, SPSS and LISREL were used. The findings of the study reveal that trust, responsibility, norms, social cooperation, and helping others significantly affect security. Moreover, security impacts the development of foreign tourism.

In the study at hand, the effect of the network and norm dimensions of social capital on political orientations (i. e. reformists, moderates, and principlists) has been assessed. The purpose of study was the determination of the political orientation map of Khuzistan province citizens during three presidential elections of Iran (1997, 2005, and 2013). To this end, the results of a questionnaire was analyzed via simple and multiple linear regression, ttest, variance analysis, and PLS structural equation in SPSS24 and SMART PLS3, respectively. The required data was collected from a sample of 920 participants above 18 years old from Ahvaz, Abadan, Dezful, Mahshahr, and Andimeshk cities through multistage stratified random sampling. In order to ensure the appropriateness of the data, CR criterion and KMO test were used. The findings indicated that there is a significant relationship between all dimensions of social capital and the tendency toward reformist and principlist wings. However, this relationship was not confirmed for the moderate camp. Moreover, based on the obtained political orientation map, the strongest political support in the sample is related to the reformist wing, while the least support is related to the moderate camp.

Social anomaly is considered as a destructive factor that can cause serious problems to any society and thus incur huge costs for their management and control. The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between good governance and social anomaly with a focus on the mediating role of social happiness. This study is applied in terms of objectives and descriptive in terms of methodology. The research population consisted of 110 faculty members and postgraduate students, out of whom 78 individuals were selected as the participants using simple random sampling. The required data was collected via a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS and Amos. The research hypotheses were tested using path analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicated a significant relationship between the research variables, and thus, the research hypotheses were confirmed, i. e. good governance was found to have a significant and negative relationship with social anomaly and a significant and positive relationship with social happiness. Social happiness also had a significant relationship with social anomaly and, thus, it played a mediating role in the relationship between good governance and social anomaly.

The purpose of this study was to identify the consequences of social capital using a metaanalysis approach. The present study is descriptive in terms of purpose, applied in terms of usage, and quantitative in terms of data type. The study population consisted of articles published in scientific-research journals in the field of social capital from 2014 to 2018, out of which 68 cases were selected via a non-random purposive sampling method and were fed into meta-analysis process. The selected studies were analyzed using CMA2 software (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software). The findings showed that among the social capital consequences at the organizational level, the variables of knowledge sharing (0. 706), organizational performance (0. 635), organizational commitment (0. 620), organizational excellence (0. 589), job satisfaction (0. 512), knowledge management (0. 511), organizational support (0. 501) and organizational health (0. 500) had high effect sizes (above 0. 5). Also, among the social capital consequences at the social level, sense of social security (0. 712), quality of life (0. 699), educational achievement (0. 680), emotional intelligence (0. 670), social health (633), psychological capital (0. 630), adherence to citizenship culture (0. 548) and psychological well-being (0. 510) had high effect sizes (above 0. 5).