Social capital and individual innovativeness in university research networks

Abstract

Many studies have examined the relations between individuals and organizations and their influence on innovativeness. Some have looked at networks that improve innovative activity at an organizational, departmental and individual level, using in the latter case the individual’s egonet. This study explores the way in which an individual’s social capital and each of its three dimensions affect innovativeness. Having assessed the entire network of a university department and calculated the social capital of its members, their innovativeness was compared on the basis of their scientific production. The results show that the positions of researchers in the network structure and network quality are less important than the resources that they are able to access through their relations.