Measuring Social Capital and its Effectiveness. The Case of Small Entrepreneurs in Italy

The article discusses the results of an empirical research on social capital (SC) carried out in six areas of small business, concentrated in two sectors (‘new’ and ‘old economy’). A distinction is made between the functioning of SC at micro-, meso- and macro-levels. These levels imply different mechanisms and the specific production of private, club, and public goods. Ego-centred networks of small entrepreneurs in Italy in recent years are analysed and combined with specific indicators of SC at meso- and macro-levels. Methodological results show that network analysis techniques give a more direct and sound way to measure SC at micro-level than aggregated indicators a la Putnam that often measure a cluster of related concepts like civicness, systemic trust, and social cohesion. Substantive results show that some structural features of personal networks and their changes over time predict the business success of entrepreneurs (average status of alter and stability of ties over time), while others are not statistically relevant (density and size). The relation between the three levels is also empirically confronted and discussed in a more exploratory way.

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