DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-1-106-114

CONSEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION
THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDY^*

Germanov Igor Anatol’evich
Ph.D. in Sociology, Docent,
Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology

Perm State University,
15, Bukirev str., Perm, 614990, Russia;
e-mail: germanov1973@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-2338-6693

Plotnikova Elena Borisovna
Ph.D. in History, Docent,
Head of the Department of Sociology

Perm State University,
15, Bukirev str., Perm, 614990, Russia;
e-mail: plotnikova1958@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-3599-5215

The article considers one of the major problems of modern sociology, which is social capital. Despite the fact that the concept of social capital is widely used in studies of different spheres of public life, there is no single opinion about its content, structure, functions, sources and consequences. A lot of issues concerning methodology of studying social capital at the organizational level remain unsolved. The paper provides a review of fundamentals of social capital study as well as presents approaches to its estimation. It also deals with the peculiarities of the conceptual framework and approaches to defining the types, forms, structure of social capital used by different authors. The authors have analyzed the key elements of social capital, which are a social network with its structural and transactional components, social norms, and trust. An attempt has been made to systematize the social capital indicative base used when conducting empirical research on organizations. In terms of the social capital structure, the abovenamed key elements include the properties of the network and its members’ characteristics, the relationships between the network members and the degree of its efficiency, the social skills of its members. In terms of the social capital cognitive form, the authors have determined: the set of rules to regulate the relationships between the members of the social network, different forms of trust. In conclusion, the authors suggested a scheme of operationalization of the indicators determined.

Keywords: social capital, social networks, trust, norms.

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The date of the manuscript receipt 31.01.2017

Please cite this article in English as:

Germanov I.A., Plotnikova E.B. Conseptualization and operationalization the concept of social capital in organizational study // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2017. Iss. 1. P.106–114. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-1-106-114

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