SOCIAL CAPITAL: FROM CONCEPT TO THEORY

Abstract

According to Resource based view theory, firm’s unique assets are crucial determinants of sustainable competitive advantage for its ultimate performance. Consequently, different types of assets in the forms of various capitals are emerging. These mainly include intellectual capital, environmental capital, cultural capital and social capital. Some of these either are identical but are used rationally whereas, others symbolically. However, it has been well established that competitiveness depends on the effective use of both tangible and intangible assets. The concept of social capital has now gained currency amongst the researchers of social sciences. Anever increasing number of social scientists have been attracted to study social capital to unearth a wide range of causal effects in their respective domains. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the journey of social capital from a concept to theory and currently as an attractive field of research. Further the study aims to identify the process through which social capital is created in the organizations and how this asset can be applied in work processes for sustained organizational performance.