Leveraging social networks for offline crowdfunding in rural communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-122
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Woolard ◽  
Tanja Steigner

Purpose<br/> As a result of the US JOBS Act, Regulation Crowdfnding went into effect in June of 2017, allowing non-accredited investors in the US for the first time to purchase securities in local start-ups. Ahead of the JOBS Act, Kansas established its own intrastate initiative in 2011, known as the Invest Kansas Exemption (IKE, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to explore how IKE participants describe the social and communal impact on their community crowdfunding success.<br/> Design/methodology/approach<br/> For this qualitative case study, we interviewed start-up businesses, economic champions, and SEC representatives in Kansas to determine the importance of social networks for entrepreneurs in offline community public offerings, what projects are fundable, and who to tap for capital and how to tap them.<br/> Findings<br/> Leaning heavily on social capital theory (Davidsson & Honig, 2003; Lin, Ensel, & Vaughn, 1981), we find that a successful community crowdfunding campaign requires community connections, economic champions, destination businesses, forward-thinkers, return to the community, and transparency.<br/> Limitations<br/> While the federal JOBS Act will present future opportunities for research, this study aimed to find social motivations behind participating in a regulation crowdfunding campaign, and is limited to participants in one US state.<br/> Implications<br/> The study provides insight into the social and communal aspect of crowdfunding investors, helping to expand further academic understanding of social capital as it pertains to business start-ups.<br/> Contribution<br/> This original study should be of broad interest to the social business academic community interested in understanding the social motivations of investing in a microlending campaign, as well as of practical relevance to entrepreneurs, and to community leaders who may seek those investors.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlika Anindya Putri

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a structural equation model to explain the complexrelationship between social network and firm performance by introducing the mediating role of trust, sellingcapability and pricing capability.Design/methodology/approach – The research model with hypothesis development was derived basedon the literature. To provide empirical evidence, this study carried out a survey in which the data wereequated with a list of questionnaires with a random survey of 380 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) inthe Indonesian context.Findings – This study indicates that the use of social media in management process will not affect theincreasing firm performance, unless the firms build trust upon social networks. The social network with trustallows the firms to gain a pricing capability and a selling capability, which brings a positive impact on firmperformance. The results also show that the selling and the pricing capabilities become essential following theutilizing the social media, which concerns on trust building.Research limitations/implications – This study focused on the small-to-medium context, which hasconventionally provided an exemplary site for the development of social capital theory but raises issues ofgeneralizability across different contexts.Practical implications – To the managers, it is advisable to encourage their employees to consciouslyexploit the selling capability by enhancing the business networks via social media to achieve the firmperformance.Originality/value – This paper contributes to the social capital theory by explaining the mediating role oftrust in the complex relationship between social network and firm performance. This study provides evidencethat trust plays a pivotal role in social networks, which enable the observed firms to achieve the performance.


Author(s):  
Crystal R. Chambers

Rural students are more likely to complete their high school diploma but less likely than urban or suburban students to enroll in college. This is in part due to exposure to college and social capital, particularly differential access to social networks including individuals with college degrees. Schools can play a role in bridging the social capital gap as school teachers and counselors are individuals with college degrees who live in and near rural communities. In this vein, teachers and counselors can inspire the college aspirations of rural students, a prerequisite for student engagement in college choice processes.


Author(s):  
Crystal R. Chambers

Rural students are more likely to complete their high school diploma but less likely than urban or suburban students to enroll in college. This is in part due to exposure to college and social capital, particularly differential access to social networks including individuals with college degrees. Schools can play a role in bridging the social capital gap as school teachers and counselors are individuals with college degrees who live in and near rural communities. In this vein, teachers and counselors can inspire the college aspirations of rural students, a prerequisite for student engagement in college choice processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-332
Author(s):  
Beate Volker

AbstractThis study examines changes in individual social capital during adult life within a 19-year period. Social capital theory and life course theory are combined, and it is argued that changes in social networks do not necessarily go together with changes in social capital: while personal networks are known to decline in size with age, social capital can be expected to accumulate, in particular for those who had a better starting position and therefore more resources to share. Panel data from the survey of the social networks of the Dutch (SSND) (1999–2018) at four points of measurement are employed to inquire into this argument. Social capital is measured by the position generator instrument, and three indicators, that is, resource extensity, mean prestige access, and resource range are analyzed. Results of fixed effect models show that, on average, people maintain access to social capital, and that men and higher educated gain social capital through their life as opposed to women and lower educated. Implications for the understanding of the reproduction of social inequality are discussed. The paper concludes with a reflection upon the value of ego-centered network analysis in the era of big data and data science.


Author(s):  
Biswash Praja

This research project uses immigrant entrepreneur’s perspectives on how entrepreneurship has influenced or facilitated in integration processes in host country. The study is based on Nepali immigrants engaged in entrepreneurship in Lisbon. Semi structured interview was used to interpret the narratives of the conversation with the respondents, which is coded into themes using thematic analysis. Twelve Nepali entrepreneurs were interviewed who owned small or medium scale business ventures in Lisbon. Being Nepali as well as migrant here in Portugal, enabled the researcher to reflect, analyse and interpret insider perspective for the study which controls the possible limitations of understanding the social milieu of the respondents during the study process. Social capital theory was used to analyse immigration, and entrepreneurship start-ups in host country. As a whole, it has been found out that, the entrepreneurial ventures helps Nepali immigrants to integrate in the host societies by facilitating them in easy adjustment process from the period of arrival until they settle down. The implications of this research are useful for local authorities in host country to further strengthen bonds between immigrants and host society through entrepreneurship. The social capital that is evident in community can be strength for authorities to support in establishing entrepreneurial ventures for Nepali immigrants.


Sexes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
Andrea Sansone ◽  
Angelo Cignarelli ◽  
Daniele Mollaioli ◽  
Giacomo Ciocca ◽  
Erika Limoncin ◽  
...  

Sentiment analysis (SA) is a technique aimed at extracting opinions and sentiments through the analysis of text, often used in healthcare research to understand patients’ needs and interests. Data from social networks, such as Twitter, can provide useful insights on sexual behavior. We aimed to assess the perception of Valentine’s Day by performing SA on tweets we collected between 28 January and 13 February 2019. Analysis was done using ad hoc software. A total of 883,615 unique tweets containing the word “valentine” in their text were collected. Geo-localization was available for 48,918 tweets; most the tweets came from the US (36,889, 75.41%), the UK (2605, 5.33%) and Canada (1661, 3.4%). The number of tweets increased approaching February 14. “Love” was the most recurring word, appearing in 111,981 tweets, followed by “gift” (55,136), “special” (34,518) and “happy” (33,913). Overall, 7318 tweets mentioned “sex”: among these tweets, the most recurring words were “sexy” (2317 tweets), “love” (1394) and “gift” (679); words pertaining to intimacy and sexual activity, such as “lingerie”, “porn”, and “date” were less common. In conclusion, tweets about Valentine’s Day mostly focus on the emotions, or on the material aspect of the celebration, and the sexual aspect of Valentine’s Day is rarely mentioned.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-219
Author(s):  
Wan Idros Wan Sulaiman ◽  
Maizatul Haizan Mahbob ◽  
Shahrul Nazmi Sannusi

Department of Information of Malaysia is one of the public organizations directly involved in the provision of information to the public. To ensure that all services rendered acceptable, organizational communication in the Department of Information should be given serious consideration so that each activity can be transformed properly. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess organizational communication in a learning organization in order to see the extent to which employees have a description of social capital and support to the organization of learning activities. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship that is formed through the social interactions between workers and management by integrating the four aspects of social capital, namely social trust, institutional trust, social norms and networking. For this purpose, a total of 190 respondents from the Information Department headquarters staff in Putrajaya was selected for this study. The study uses questionnaires as research tool and analyses key findings using the Pearson correlation test to examine relationships between various aspects. The study also applied social capital theory as the basis of research framework the when analyzing findings. The results showed that staff describe positive social capital within the organization and consider organizational learning as a strategy to improve the performance of the department in the future.


2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (174-175) ◽  
pp. 152-167
Author(s):  
Natasa Golubovic ◽  
Srdjan Golubovic

Despite the great interest for the concept and a considerable number of papers that deal with the subject of social capital, yet there is no unique and consistent definition of social capital. Forming a consistent theory of social capital is hindered by the presence of several different approaches in the analysis of this phenomenon. Depending on the author?s theoretical position in the definition of social capital or the analysis of its sources, components and outcomes, the emphasis rests on different social processes and relationships. The aim of this paper is to analyze alternative approaches in the conceptualization of social capital, their advantages and shortfalls, and their implications for the development of the social capital theory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Clio Andris ◽  
Dipto Sarkar

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Interpersonal relationships are an important part of social and personal health. Studies of social capital show that individuals and communities with stronger ties are have an economic and health advantage. Yet, loneliness and isolation are becoming major public health issues. There is a pressing need to measure where relationships are strong and how accessible one’s social ties are, in order to learn how to better support face-to-face meetings and promote social health in society. However, the datasets we use to study people and human behaviour are most often mobility data and census data &amp;ndash; which tell us little about personal relationships. These data can be augmented with information about where people have ties, and how their relationships unfold over geographic space. The data we use to study the built environment include building footprints and infrastructure, and we can annotate these data by how (well) infrastructure supports different kinds of relationships, in order to ask new questions about how the landscape encourages relationships.</p><p> We suggest a list of methods for representing interpersonal relationships and social life at various socio-spatial levels of aggregation. We give an example of each, with an effort to span various use cases and spatial scales of data modelling.</p><p> <strong>Dyads (line) and Ego-based (star):</strong> This geometric model represents a relationship between two individuals (Figure 1A). The individuals can be geolocated to households, administrative units, real-time locations, etc. The tie can be given a nominal category such as family or co-worker, and edge weights that signify reported relationship strength, frequency of contact, frequency of face-to-face meeting, et cetera. Star models represent a central individual and his/her geolocated ties (that radiate from the centre). The star illustrates the theoretical concept of personal extensibility.</p><p> <strong>Points of Interest (points):</strong> Points of interest provide a place-based perspective (note that these entities can also be represented as polygons such as building footprints, or lines such as gradients of interaction on a subway). Certain places are better suited for fostering relationships than others (Figure 1B), and each can be annotated with their ability to foster: new ties (a nightclub), gender-bonding ties (bowling leagues), romantic ties (romantic restaurants), inter-generational ties (a religious facility), professional ties (conferences), et cetera.</p><p> <strong>Polygons/Administrative Units (polygons):</strong> These data are attached to administrative areal units (Census boundaries, provinces, zones, etc.). The data represent surveyed data on relationship-related variables in censuses, social surveys and social capital surveys. These surveys ask about trust, friendliness with neighbours, social life, belongingness to institutions, and more (Figure 1C), illustrating the social health of an area.</p><p> <strong>Aggregate Flows and Social Networks (lies and networks):</strong> This model illustrates the geolocated, social ties within a spatial extent, i.e. the social networks of a group of many people over a large extent (Figure 1D). Data can be sourced from social media, telecommunications patterns, and other declarations of relationships.</p><p> <strong>Regions (polygons):</strong> Regions, that may describe neighbourhoods within one city, or an agglomeration of cities, can be defined by social ties. Instead of commuting or economic ties, regions are defined by a preponderance of social ties within a given polygon, and a lack of ties between polygons (or between the polygon and any external area). Social regions represent a likeness and strong ties between the people that live within the region (Figure 1E).</p><p> Given these methods for representing social life and interpersonal relationships as GIS data, new questions may arise. At the <strong>dyadic level</strong>: how can we map the presence of a relationship between two people? At the <strong>ego-based level</strong>: how far and with what kind of diversity do people have ties? At the <strong>point of interest level</strong>: what kinds of mapable data can describe places’ ability to create new relationships and foster existing relationships? At the <strong>polygonal level</strong>: what kinds of mapable data can show where relationships are strong or weak? At the <strong>levels of flows and networks</strong>: what kinds of mapable data can describe systems of diffusion? At the <strong>regional level</strong>: what physical and administrative boundaries guide social ties?</p><p> For cartographers and geographic modellers looking to study social life, data acquisition, analysis, and mapping are challenges. The point of this extended abstract is to inventory the possibilities of mapping these data, open a dialog for experimenting with what kinds of symbologies, associated variables, classification schemes, visualization techniques and data collection opportunities are available for this purpose. We also hope to create spaces for comparative studies that describe the implications of these choices. In our search, we find that the major research challenges are the following: 1) privacy 2) geolocatable data 3) qualitative vs. quantitative data and 4) assurance statistically-significant samples sizes 5) analysis and modelling 6) visualization. Nevertheless, our goal is to make these indicators and data more GIS-friendly and available to geospatial analysts, modellers and cartographers.</p>


Author(s):  
Mohd Mahzan Awang ◽  
Jalal Deen Careemdeen

This study aims at identifying the level of social capital to improve soft skills among university students in Malaysia. Social capital construct based on Putnam's [1] social capital theory. Social capital in this research refers to students' participation in community-based activities and university's clubs. Soft skills construct included university students' communication, leadership, teamwork, continuous learning, critical thinking, ethics and professionalism, and entrepreneurship skills. This study is a survey research design using a questionnaire instrument for data collection. The sample was chosen randomly, participating in a total of 264 university students in Malaysia. The study used descriptive analyses such as mean, standard deviation, t-test, and Pearson Correlation to analyze the data. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23 was used for the data analysis The findings of study demonstrated that the majority of university students had moderate levels of both constructs, namely social capital and soft skills. Results from this study revealed that there was no significant difference in social capital based on Gender. However, the results of the study found there is a significant difference in soft skills based on Gender. Accordingly,' it has been found that male students had a higher soft skill compared to female students. Correlation analysis demonstrated that there was a significant positive relationship between social capital and soft skills. Overall, this study suggests the importance of social capital towards soft skills development.


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