Pyramids of Trust: Social Embeddedness and Political Culture in Two Italian Gold Jewelry Districts

This article demonstrates the usefulness of the notion of embeddednessto the historical study of Italian industrial districts of smallfirms and of local economic change more generally. The developmentof gold jewelry production in two Italian towns, Valenza Poand Arezzo, shows that vertical disintegration was enabled bythe creation of networks of heterogeneous social relations.In both towns, social and political ties led to the creationof institutions of collective governance, which in turn produceda workable level of trust between economic actors. The productionof trust, however, never ceased to be a contentious process,endowed with multiple and often contradictory meanings embeddedin specific networks and contexts, ranging from collective projectsof modernization in Valenza Po to the cementing of a secretiveinformal economy in Arezzo. The embeddedness approach to economicaction is superior both to the communitarian arguments of muchof the literature on the Italian industrial districts and totransaction-cost theories, which tend to view institutions ininstrumental and functionalist ways.     

In Advertising We Trust: Religiosity's Influence on Marketplace and Relational Trust

Trust is a critical component of marketing for both brands and consumers. Competing theories suggest that high-religiosity consumers could be either more or less trusting of marketing. Thus, this article explores religiosity's influence on broad marketplace trust that influences more specific relational trust in the context of advertising messages. Study 1 shows that marketplace and relational trust positively mediate the relationship between religiosity and product evaluations. Studies 2 and 3 test moderators to this relationship based on three dimensions of religiosity: affective, behavioral, and cognitive.     

Success Factors in Cooperative Online Marketplaces: Trust as the Social Capital and Value Generator in Vendors-Exchange Relationships

The business reliance on cooperative online exchanges for business-to-business transactions is on the rise. This paper examines the factors contributing to the success of vendor-exchange relationships in this type of marketplace. We use a Critical Realism approach to identify constructs salient to vendors-exchange relationships. A synthesis of value creation, social capital, and trust theories is used for conceptualizing the model. The model is tested using the data from a survey of vendors participating in a cooperative exchange. Results indicated that value creation was the main source of continuance in vendors-exchange relationship. However, the perception of value depended to a larger degree on the relationship quality and to a lesser degree on transactional exchanges (using the exchange's technology solutions as the sources of transaction), indicating the strength and extent of vendors-exchange relationship is an intangible asset for the exchange company. We also found that the exchange company's innovativeness was critical to the perceived quality of transactional exchanges, whereas perception of unfair treatment and communication quality influenced relationship quality. The results also indicated that trust was the main source for the social capital that contributed to perceived value of relationship. The ability of the exchange company to build a community was another factor contributing to the success of this relationship.     

Economic Growth,Technological Progress and Social Capital: The Inverted U Hypothesis

We set up a theoretical framework to analyse the role of economic growth and technological progress in the erosion of social capital. Under certain conditions on parameters, the relationship between technological progress and social capital can take the shape of an inverted U curve. Furthermore, we show the circumstances that allow the economy to follow trajectories where the stock of social capital grows endogenously and unboundedly.     

The Importance of Consumer Authorities for the Production and Maintenance of Trust and Social Capital in Consumer Markets

Journal of Consumer Policy - Trust is a valuable resource that varies between countries. This paper suggests that consumers’ trust in retailers and service providers, facilitating...     

Economic Transition,Heterogeneous Social Capital,and Corporate Performance: Empirical Evidence from China

A theoretical framework based on information and embeddedness is constructed to analyze the micro structure of the impact of heterogeneous social capital on corporate performance. It is empirically tested based on data collected from a sample of 155 Chinese firms. Results indicate that hierarchical social capital has a positive association with corporate market power but little impact on corporate operational efficiency. Furthermore, social capital can promote operational efficiency but contribute little to corporate market power. There is a complementary structure between the two types of heterogeneous social capital. The embedded inertia of social capital into institutional environment is negatively related with corporate performance. From the perspective of economic transition, firms in developed regions rely far more on hierarchical social capital to acquire market power than firms in developing areas.     

高等教育与社会资本:性别视角下的审视

使用中国人民大学中国调查与数据中心“中国教育长期追踪调查”数据,分析大学生求职就业中所呈现出的性别差异,社会资本对大学生求职的影响及作用机制的性别差异.女大学生社会资本存量、尤其是自致性社会资本存量并不低于男大学生,她们对于社会资本的利用程度也并不弱于男大学生,但社会资本对男女两性就业的影响体现出明显差异.相较于女性,社会资本对男性就业发挥更大作用.刻板化的性别意识会阻碍社会资本对女大学生就业的促进作用,从而难以缩小大学生就业的性别差异.     

Assessing Social Capital: Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany and the U.K.

"Social capital" can be considered to be the product of co-operationbetween various institutions, networks and business partners. It haspotential as a useful tool for business ethics. In this article weidentify categories pertinent to the measurement of social capital insmall and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). By drawing on three differentsectors, one business-to-business service, one business-to-customerservice, and one manufacturing, we have enabled the consideration ofsectoral differences. We find sector to play an important part inrelation to business practices and social capital. Our inclusion of SMEsfrom Germany and the United Kingdom has called attention to cultural,institutional and economic aspects of two regions of Europe and how theycan influence SME social capital. Social capital is found to beinfluenced by context and, in particular, institutional arrangements. Inanalysing the data we note particular areas of interest from the pointof view of SMEs and social capital as being: formal engagement,networking within sectors, networking across sectors, volunteerism andgiving to charity, and finally a focus on why people engage. We concludethat there is a considerable amount of further research needed on socialcapital, SME's and business ethics.     

Social Motives and Trust: Implications for Joint Gains in Negotiations

This study examined the role of trust via contingency model in a multi-issue multi-party negotiation setting and how it relates to outcomes. Results of a laboratory experiment with 288 undergraduate students confirmed both a main effect of Social Value Orientations (SVO), such that cooperative negotiators achieved higher joint gains than pro-self negotiators, and a main effect of Motivational Orientations (MO), such that pro-social negotiators attained higher joint gains than egoistic-oriented negotiators. Furthermore, the predicted interaction effect between SVO and MO, such that negotiators with a pro-self SVO attained higher joint gains in a pro-social, in contrast to an egoistic MO, condition was confirmed. This effect was fully mediated by trust. The dimension of trust that explained the SVO and MO interaction was that of concern for fellow negotiators as rated by oneself, as well as by an objective third-party observer. Implications for the strategic use of social motives and trust on effective information exchange and negotiated outcomes are discussed.     

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Benefits of Employee Trust: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective

Research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has tended to focus on external stakeholders and outcomes, revealing little about internal effects that might also help explain CSR-firm performance linkages and the impact that corporate marketing strategies can have on internal stakeholders such as employees. The two studies (N = 1,116 and N = 2,422) presented in this article draw on theory from both corporate marketing and organizational behavior (OB) disciplines to test the general proposition that employee trust partially mediates the relationship between CSR and employee attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Both studies provide evidence in support of these general relationships. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the context of CSR and corporate marketing research.     

Frederick H. Smith. Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History

Frederick Smith's early evocation (p. 2) of Sidney Mintz's 1985master-work Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in ModernHistory is most unfortunate because Smith is no Mintz—exceptthat they are both anthropologists. This sad little book suffersby comparison on most every page. In contrast to Mintz, it isnot good social history, it is not good economic history, andit is not good anthropology. More particularly for readers ofEnterprise Society, Caribbean Rum is not good     

Industrial Clusters and Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries: What We Know,What We do not Know,and What We Need to Know

This article provides a review of what we know, what we do not know, and what we need to know about the relationship between industrial clusters and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries. In addition to the drivers of and barriers to the adoption of CSR initiatives, this study highlights key lessons learned from empirical studies of CSR initiatives that aimed to improve environmental management and work conditions and reduce poverty in local industrial districts. Academic work in this area remains embryonic, lacking in empirical evidence about the effects of CSR interventions on the profitability on local enterprises, workers, and the environment. Nor do theoretical frameworks offer clear explanations of the institutionalization and effects of CSR in local industrial districts in the developing world. Other key limitations in this research stream include an excessive focus on export-oriented industrial clusters, the risk that CSR becomes a form of economic and cultural imperialism, and the potential for joint-action CSR initiatives in clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises to offer a new form of greenwashing. From this review, the authors develop a theoretical model to explain why CSR has not become institutionalized in many developing country clusters, which in turn suggests that the vast majority of industrial clusters in developing countries are likely to engage in socially irresponsible behavior.     

Social Corporatism and Capital Accumulation: The Fate of the Nordic Model

Recent research into weak productivity performance since the financial crisis has highlighted the importance of the gap between the most productive firms and the rest. While wage compression may only be one possible mechanism to promote the relative growth of productive firms, it does appear to be effective in promoting productivity growth in Nordic economies.     

Institutions and Financial Inclusion in Rural Uganda: the Mediating Role of Social Capital

The study examined the mediating role of social capital in the relationship between institutions and financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. Cross-sectional design was adopted and data were collected and analyzed using SPSS/20, MedGraph and Sobel-z test. The findings indicated that social capital partially mediates the relationship between institutions and financial inclusion. Besides, institutions and financial inclusion are significantly related. Thus, managers of financial institutions, financial inclusion working groups, and policy makers should pay more attention to the role of social capital in promoting cooperative behavior among the poor in accessing scarce resources such as financial services.     

中国制造业企业创新:行业竞争,嵌入集群的社会资本与技术战略选择

研究关注中国制造业企业的创新过程,讨论行业竞争机制、嵌入集群的社会资本以及企业技术战略选择对企业创新的影响.研究发现:行业竞争强度对运营绩效、扩张绩效和动态相乘绩效均有显著影响;制造业产业聚集所产生的集群效应对运营绩效有显著影响;集群内的强联系显著地提升企业的动态相乘绩效;集群外的弱联系是中国制造业企业忽视的社会网络资源,这种集群外部社会资本对3种创新绩效的影响都不显著;防御型技术战略只能显著调节集群内社会资本的强联系对动态相乘绩效的影响,而且这种调节效应还是负向的;进攻型的技术战略显著调节行业竞争强度、集群内的强联系对扩张绩效的影响,这种调节效应是正向显著的.     

Roles of Social Capital in Venture Creation: Key Dimensions and Research Implications*

This study was built upon Nahapiet and Ghoshal's three dimensions of social capital—structural, relational, and cognitive. It addresses three research questions: (1) Are there significant differences in social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public (control group)? (2) Are there significant differences in social capital between technology and nontechnology nascent entrepreneurs? (3) How do the three dimensions of social capital interact among themselves across different sample groups? These questions were examined by using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics data set. Results suggest that there are no significant differences in various dimensions of social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public. What differentiates the two groups is not the amount of social capital but the patterns of association among its different dimensions. Additionally, the authors found that technology‐based nascent entrepreneurs tend to have a higher degree of relational capital than their nontechnology counterparts. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Creating an Ethical Work Context: A Pathway to Generate Social Capital in the Firm

There is a need for further research to understand how social capital in the workplace can be promoted. This article studies the generation of social capital from a comprehensive perspective that integrates ethics and general management. We propose the concept of “ethical work context” as an influential antecedent of the social capital in the firm. The ethical work context, which is aligned with the “humanizing culture” approach proposed by Melé (Journal of Business Ethics 45(1), 3–14, 2003a), allows a broader comprehension of the concrete management practices and organizational dynamics that generate organizational social capital. It is argued that social capital, understood as a by-product of the ethical work context, results both from organizational design and ongoing managerial activity. Creating an ethical work context brings ethics and social capital into the realm of the general manager; a figure that has remained absent from the social capital literature.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: Its Economic Impact and Link to the Bullwhip Effect

This paper examines the economic impact of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the supply chain operations of multinational corporations (MNC). Because they have global supply chains in emerging markets, MNCs face certain operational challenges. For example, unethical operations often result in a huge loss to MNCs in the long run, even though their initial cost seems to be low. In this paper, we extend the Bullwhip Effect theory in supply chain management to the ethical operations context, and define and evaluate a special Bullwhip Effect due to Unethical Operations (BEUO). Using economic data from various sources including Ford, Toyota, and GM in the auto industry, we first estimate the indices of BEUO for the three companies and demonstrate the economic necessity for MNCs to incorporate CSR with supply chain operations. We then propose a coherent approach, blending what we term the bottom-up and proactive methods, to achieve such an outcome. The bottom-up approach requires MNCs to switch their focus on stakeholders, shifting from shareholders to consumers and workers, and on decision levels from public relationships to supply chain operations. The proactive approach recommends initializing specific CSR operations to mitigate the negative impact of BEUO. Both theoretical analysis and case studies are conducted to evaluate our developed propositions that MNCs adopting the proposed CSR operations will in the long run achieve better economic performance. Recommended actions for implementation, based on best practices, are also presented.     

体制转轨中居民收入变化对消费的影响--以北京市为例

消费需求作为经济活动的出发点与归宿,是活跃市场促进经济增长的重要环节,它能够创造生产动力,促进消费结构与产业结构的协调发展。在我国逐渐由计划经济向市场经济转轨的过程中,经济和政治体制改革、组织创新和观念转变必然导致消费者行为的变化。而收入作为影响消费者行为的主要因素,在体制转轨中其总量与结构的变化均对消费活动有着重要的作用。近几年来,北京市城镇居民人均消费性支出增长呈现趋缓的态势,2001年增长5.1%,比改革开放以来增长最快的1994年低近36个百分点,剔除物价因素实际增长1.9%,均为1992年以来的最低水平。观察1978～20…     

2018年俄罗斯经济社会发展展望

2018年将是俄罗斯经济社会发展中极为关键的一年。在刚刚过去的一年中,俄罗斯经济在西方国家加大制裁的严峻背景下砥砺前行,出现了缓慢复苏。2018年俄罗斯经济社会面临全球经济风险带来的挑战、特朗普减税的负面效应、西方国家经济制裁的压力以及自身经济短板带来的风险。不过其发展也有诸多有利因素,包括中俄关系迎来新的发展机遇;俄罗斯具备较强抗风险能力;俄罗斯处理国际关系技巧高超。展望俄罗斯经济社会发展仍面临较严峻的形势,加大引进外国对俄直接投资和减少资本外流是最为关键的因素。受军事对抗和经济制裁等多重因素共同作用,2018年俄罗斯经济可能出现微弱增长,甚至重现负增长局面;社会形势基本可以保持稳定局面,但仍需继续改善民生和投资环境,扭转人口下降局面成为重要课题。