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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
| By: | Oleksandr Talavera (School of Economics, University of East Anglia); Lin Xiong (Robert Gordon University); Xiong Xiong (University of Tianjin) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of social capital on access to bank financing. Based on a Chinese nationwide survey our analysis suggests that entrepreneurs who spend more time on social activities are more likely to obtain a loan from commercial banks. In addition, we find that membership of political parties is an important determinant of state bank financing. Finally, our data reveals some evidence of substitutability between various types of social capital. To get a loan from a specific type of bank, an entrepreneur should access the relevant social network. The results of our analysis are robust to a number of specification checks. |
| Keywords: | China, social capital, entrepreneurs |
| JEL: | G21 L26 |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uea:aepppr:2010_19&r=soc |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Kostas Bimpikis; Asuman E, Ozdaglar |
| Date: | 2010–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levarc:661465000000000216&r=soc |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Asuman E. Ozdaglar |
| Date: | 2010–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levarc:661465000000000222&r=soc |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Giacomo Como; Fabio Fagnani; Asuman E. Ozdaglar |
| Date: | 2010–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levarc:661465000000000208&r=soc |
| By: | Rouziès, Dominique; Hulland, John; Barclay, Donald W |
| Abstract: | Building on social capital theory, the authors view the marketing and sales interface as a set of inter-group ties and investigate how firms (1) generate value from inter-group relationships and (2) develop the social capital embedded in these relationships. Their findings suggest that social capital enhances, but can also limit, a firm’s performance depending on the characteristics of its customers. Their results also demonstrate that managing the marketing and sales interface at different levels of customer concentration is critical to the success of a firm’s performance. |
| Keywords: | Marketing organization; sales organization; interface; social capital theory. |
| JEL: | L14 L25 M31 |
| Date: | 2010–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:0933&r=soc |
| By: | Le, Anh Tuan |
| Abstract: | This paper describes how the social capital of rice farmers of the Mekong delta of Vietnam - manifested in the tradition of collective farming practice, changed from the 1940s to 1990s. The reason this collective rice farming had existed for decades, irrespective of critical events that challenged its continuation, was the co-existence of two key factors – high need for collective farming to ensure subsistence, and the availability of a closely knit social network that facilitated the exchange of labor. Despite its longevity, the practice of a cohesive and spontaneous collective farming, particularly in terms of labor exchange and labor participation in farming activities, was not maintained under the influence of agrarian reforms which aimed to improve rural livelihood. Land reform resulted in individual rice farming, making mobilization for spontaneous collective action, at the community level quite challenging. The assessment arose in the context of the need to mobilize collective action for implementation of a Community Trap Barrier System (CTBS), an ecologically-based rodent pest management system. It is concluded that successful restoration of social capital in the form of collective farming practices at the field level may depend on government intervention strategies at both local and national policy levels. |
| Keywords: | social capital; rice; Mekong; farming practice; agrarian reform |
| JEL: | Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25552&r=soc |
| By: | Pierre-Louis Vézina (IUHEID, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an untapped dataset on Swiss immigration and a novel instrumental variable to test three channels through which migrants promote trade. The main finding is that migrant networks are an effective substitute for formal institutions in facilitating trade. The effect takes place entirely on the extensive margin, suggesting migrant networks may be reducing fixed entry costs characterized by corruption. |
| Keywords: | trade, migration, corruption |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp03-2010&r=soc |
| By: | Sarah Jacobson (Williams College); Ragan Petrie (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | Grassroots fundraising leverages favor trading within social networks to support the provision of a public good. We use a laboratory experiment to study the elements and dynamics of this type of fundraising institution. Peer-to-peer reciprocity is an important component of grassroots fundraising, and the ability to practice this targeted reciprocity in our experiment increases contributions to the public good by 14%. Subjects discriminate by rewarding group members who have been generous and withholding rewards from ungenerous group members. At least some of this reciprocal behavior is rooted in other-regarding preferences. When someone is rendered unable to benefit from favor trading, he gives much less to the public good than he does in other settings. People thus excluded from the "circle of reciprocity" thus provide a clean and strict test of indirect reciprocity, since they cannot benefit from a norm of cooperation. We do not observe indirect reciprocity. |
| Keywords: | public goods, reciprocity, experiment, peer-to-peer fundraising |
| JEL: | C91 H41 D01 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2010-21&r=soc |
| By: | Shuili Du (Simmons College); C.B. Bhattacharya (ESMT European School of Management and Technology); Sankar Sen (Baruch College, City University of New York) |
| Abstract: | This research builds on the complementary corporate social responsibility (CSR) literatures in strategy and marketing to provide insight into the efficacy of CSR as a challenger’s competitive weapon against a market leader. Through an investigation of a real world CSR initiative, we show that the challenger can reap superior business returns among consumers who had participated in its CSR initiative, relative to those who were merely aware of the initiative. Specifically, participant consumers demonstrate the desired attitudinal and behavioral changes in favor of the challenger, regardless of their affective trust in the leader, whereas aware consumers’ reactions become less favorable as their affective trust in the leader increases. Furthermore, participation, unlike mere awareness, transforms the nature of the consumer-challenger relationship from a transactional one to a communal, trust-based one. |
| Keywords: | corporate social responsibility, competitive strategy, challenger brand, affective trust |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esm:wpaper:esmt-10-006&r=soc |
| By: | Martin Dufwenberg (University of Arizona); Simon Gaechter (University of Nottingham); Heike Hennig-Schmidt (University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Psychological game theory can provide rational-choice-based framing effects; frames influence beliefs, beliefs influence motivations. We explain this theoretically and explore empirical relevance experimentally. In a 2?2 design of one-shot public good games we show that frames affect subject’s first- and second-order beliefs, and contributions. From a psychological gametheoretic framework we derive two mutually compatible hypotheses about guilt aversion and reciprocity under which contributions are related to second- and first-order beliefs, respectively. Our results are consistent with either. |
| Keywords: | framing; psychological game theory; guilt aversion; reciprocity; public good games; voluntary cooperation |
| JEL: | C91 C72 D64 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdx:dpaper:2010-16&r=soc |
| By: | Diego Ubfal; Alessandro Maffioli |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate the impact of research grants on the amount of collaboration, among scientific researchers in Argentina. We find a positive and significant impact of funding on collaboration, which is measured in terms of the number of co-authors for publications in peer-reviewed journals. In particular, we find a significant impact of the grants for funded researchers both on the size of their ego network, and on their 2-step indirect links, measured by the number of direct and 1-step indirect co-authors. We also find evidence that this impact was driven by the results of funded researchers at the upper tail of the distribution of collaboration outcomes. Our identification strategy is based on comparing collaboration indicators for researchers with financially supported projects with those of a control group of researchers who submitted projects that were accepted in terms of quality, but not supported because of shortage of funds. We obtain consistent results by using different non-experimental techniques such as difference-in-differences models combined with propensity score matching methods and a non-parametric difference-in-differences estimator. |
| Keywords: | Scientific Collaboration, Social Networks, Program Evaluation, Nonparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimator, Latin America, Argentina |
| JEL: | O31 D85 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:spdwps:1006&r=soc |
| By: | Thomas Stenger (CEREGE - Centre de Recherche en Gestion - Université de Poitiers : EA); Alexandre Coutant (LASELDI - Laboratoire de Semio-Linguistique, Didactique et Informatique - Université de Franche-Comté) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes to examine the case of privacy concerns and privacy management for teenagers on Social Network Sites, according to a national survey being carried out in France since January 2008 by two University research teams in management sciences, sociology and computing, for the French National Postal Service. |
| Date: | 2010–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00526167_v1&r=soc |
| By: | Bjornskov, Christian; Dreher, Axel; Fischer, Justina AV; Schnellenbach, Jan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we revisit the association between happiness and inequality. We argue that the interaction between the perceived and the actual fairness of the income generation process affects this association. Building on a simple model of individual labor-market participation under uncertainty, we predict that higher levels of perceived fairness cause higher levels of utility, and lower preferred levels of income redistribution. In societies with a low level of actual social mobility, income inequality is perceived more negatively with increased perceived fairness, due to the need for unexpected policy changes as a response to many unsuccessful investments of overly optimistic individuals. This effect becomes smaller as actual social mobility increases. Using data on happiness and a broad set of fairness measures from the World Values Survey, we find strong support for the negative (positive) association between fairness perceptions and the demand for more equal incomes (subjective well-being). We also find strong empirical support for the disappointment effect in countries with low social mobility. Consistent with our theoretical model, the results for high-mobility countries turn out to be ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | Happiness; life satisfaction; subjective well-being; inequality; income distribution; redistribution; political ideology; justice; fairness; World Values Survey |
| JEL: | J62 H40 D31 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25826&r=soc |