Exploring the role of social capital influence variables on travel behaviour

This paper explores the potential role of individual trip characteristics and social capital network variables in the choice of transport mode. A sample of around 100 individuals living or working in one suburb of Madrid (i.e. Las Rosas district of Madrid) participated in a smartphone short panel survey, entering travel data for an entire working week. A Mixed Logit model was estimated with this data to analyze shifts to metro as a consequence of the opening of two new stations in the area. Apart from classical explanatory variables, such as travel time and cost, gender, license and car ownership, the model incorporated two “social capital network” variables: participation in voluntary activities and receiving help for various tasks (i.e. child care, housekeeping, etc.). Both variables improved the capacity of the model to explain transport mode shifts. Further, our results confirm that the shift towards metro was higher in the case of people “helped” and lower for those participating in some voluntary activities.

Capital social, capital relacional e innovación: un análisis de su incidencia en el desarrollo del distrito de Arequipa, Perú

El capital social –que según algunos autores contiene también el capital relacional- es el elemento que posibilita que la sociedad se mantenga unida, en otras palabras es el “pegamento social”. El rol de los elementos que le constituyen, y que son en su mayoría inmateriales, ha comenzado a cobrar mayor importancia en los diversos aspectos de la vida, de manera especial en el ámbito económico. Por otro lado, una de las diversas perspectivas que se encargan del desarrollo territorial (Camagni, 2003) ofrece un marco teórico general que engloba en un solo modelo tanto el capital social como el capital relacional y los procesos innovadores; entendiendo este último elemento como aquel que desempeña un papel fundamental en los procesos de crecimiento económico. La ubicación geográfica del presente estudio es la ciudad de Arequipa, que es la segunda en importancia en Perú después de Lima –la ciudad capital-. Arequipa ha experimentado los últimos años importantes índices de crecimiento económico, sin embargo, en muchos aspectos este hecho no ha significado una mejora en la calidad de vida de las personas. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo general acercarse al estado del capital social, del capital relacional y de la innovación en el distrito de Arequipa. Dentro de los objetivos específicos, y en lo referido a la innovación, se busca conocer el estado de la innovación en las organizaciones del distrito y determinar el estado de desarrollo de ésta. En lo respectivo al segundo tema, se busca caracterizar el estado del capital social y del capital relacional y explorar si existen elementos que sean comunes con el estado de la innovación. La metodología se fundamenta en el análisis cualitativo y a través de entrevistas con ciudadanos en lo referido al capital social y al capital relacional. Se hizo, asimismo, un relevamiento con trabajadores de diversas organizaciones sobre el estado de la innovación. Con esta información se obtuvieron resultados que dan cuenta de la riqueza de las relaciones sociales analizadas...

Linking tourism, retirement migration and social capital

A general trend in the study of international retirement migration has been the increased attention paid to the social contacts and network connections of the migrants in both the destination and the origin areas. These studies have examined the extent to which migrants build social relationships with their neighbours and the host society while also maintaining social links with their countries of origin, addressing the central role that leisure travel plays in sustaining increasingly dispersed social networks and maintaining the social capital of these networks and of the individuals involved in them. Using a case study approach to examine British retirement migration to Spain, we explore the relevance of transnational social networks in the context of international retirement migration, particularly the intensity of bidirectional visiting friends and relatives (VFR) tourism flows and the migrants’ social contacts with friends and/or family back in their home country. Building on the concept of social capital and Putnam's distinction between bonding and bridging social capital, we propose a framework for the analysis of the migrants’ international social networks. The results of a study conducted based on a sample of 365 British retirees living in the coast of Alicante (Spain) show both the strength of the retirees’ international bonding social capital and the role of ‘VFR's travel and communication technologies in sustaining the migrants’ transnational social practices and, ultimately, their international bonding social capital. It also provides evidence for the reinforcing links between tourism-related mobility and amenity-seeking migration in later life.

Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 25/December 2012

This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness both in Europe as a whole, as well as in its four main geographical macro-regions – North, South, East and West – separately. We test the hypothesis of whether social capital, in its three-fold definition established by Coleman (1988) – trust, social interaction, and norms and sanctions – influences individual happiness across European countries and regions. The concept of social capital is further enriched by incorporating Putnam- (1993) and Olson- (1982) type variables on associational activity. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data for 48,583 individuals from 25 European countries, we reach three main findings. First, social capital matters for happiness across the three dimensions considered. Second, the main drivers of the effects of social capital on happiness appear to be informal social interaction and general social, as well as institutional trust. And third, there are significant differences in how social capital interacts with happiness across different areas of Europe, with the connection being at is weakest in the Nordic countries.

Implications of social capital for the inclusion of people with disabilities and families in community life

This paper seeks to ascertain the usefulness of the theory of social capital as a framework for developing and sustaining the inclusion of people with disabilities and families in community life. We discuss the theoretical elements of social capital and assess its relevance when understanding both the experiences of people with disabilities and their families and the possible implications for policy and programme efforts to promote inclusion. Preliminary findings from two studies of the experiences and social networks of people with disabilities and their families in communities in regional and rural Australia are presented. It is argued that to date, people with disabilities and their families have largely been excluded from the broader social capital debate and that social capital thinking has had minimal influence on efforts to achieve the inclusion of people with disabilities into community life. It is further argued that new paradigms of support are needed that build capacity and social capital through working alongside individuals and families to influence not only outcomes for them, but also for the communities on which they live. The local area coordination model as it has developed in Australia since 1989 provides some instructive signposts for integrating individual, family and community approaches. It is concluded that social capital theory can make a contribution to inclusion theory and practice but we should use it with circumspection.

Measuring community strength and social capital

Five case study communities in both metropolitan and regional urban locations in Australia are used as test sites to develop measures of 'community strength' on four domains: Natural Capital; Produced Economic Capital; Human Capital; and Social and Institutional Capital. The paper focuses on the fourth domain. Sample surveys of households in the five case study communities used a survey instrument with scaled items to measure four aspects of social capital - formal norms, informal norms, formal structures and informal structures - that embrace the concepts of trust, reciprocity, bonds, bridges, links and networks in the interaction of individuals with their community inherent in the notion social capital. Exploratory principal components analysis is used to identify factors that measure those aspects of social and institutional capital, while a confirmatory analysis based on Cronbach's alpha explores the robustness of the measures. Four primary scales and 15 subscales are identified when defining the domain of social and institutional capital. Further analysis reveals that two measures - anomie, and perceived quality of life and wellbeing - relate to certain primary scales of social capital.

The role of social capital in the promotion of conservation farming: The case of 'landcare' in the southern Philippines

'Social capital' refers to the relationships of trust, communication, and cooperation that facilitate collective action in a community. It is particularly relevant to soil conservation in developing countries, which requires collective efforts to raise awareness of soil degradation, provide effective training in soil conservation practices, and implement soil conservation measures on individual farms. The Landcare Program in the Southern Philippines promotes simple conservation practices in upland environments through establishing and supporting community landcare groups and municipal landcare associations, thus augmenting the social capital of farmers in these locations. An evaluation of the Landcare Program in Barangay Ned, South Cotabato, based on a survey of 313 farm households and case studies of nine landcare groups, shows that, despite extreme isolation and difficult working conditions, farmers responded by rapidly forming landcare groups and a landcare association, and adopting contour barriers on their maize farms. They utilized the bonding social capital inhering in their local communities to build stocks of bridging social capital, linking them to information, training and resources from outside their immediate locality. A logistic regression model of the factors affecting adoption of contour barriers shows that farmers who had undergone the practical, farmer-based training provided by the Landcare Program, and who were members of a landcare group, were significantly more likely to adopt conservation measures. These results confirm the value of investing in social capital to promote soil conservation. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Festival attendance and the development of social capital

Festivals are emerging worldwide as a growing and vibrant sector of the tourism and leisure industries and are seen to have significant economic, socio-cultural, and political impacts on the destination area and host groups. While there are a number of scholars working on developing valid models to determine the economic impact of festivals on host communities, there are few studies published which focus on the social, cultural, and/or political impacts of festivals and events. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to determine the degree to which festival attendance facilitates the augmentation of social capital by drawing upon the literature from various disciplines in order to conceptualize the synergy between festivals and social capital. To achieve this, the paper will (1) examine the relevant literature on the key characteristics of ‘festivals’ as distinct from other events and (2) investigate the current uses of the notion of ‘social capital’ within the academic debates in a variety of disciplinary contexts