A major challenge in fostering online communities is developing and sustaining communities. This paper integrates social capital and group development theories in order to derive a framework that seeks to explain why some online communities prosper, while others decline and perish. Four facets of social capital – network structure, identification, obligations, and shared vision – are proposed t...

Attending meetings is a common activity where people accomplish tasks and extend their relationships. But what happens when a meeting is over? Is that the end of the meeting conversation? This study empirically demonstrates that meetings are not discrete events; rather they are a form of persistent conversation processes, involving combinations of ICTs and face-toface communication. Conversatio...

Temporary labor migration in developing countries is an important urban ^ rural linkage that has a potential impact on rural development. According to the new economies of labor migration, it is often a strategy used by families with small farms to acquire investment capital for future business formation. In this paper, I argue further that human-capital accretion during migration reinforces th...

As Foner (1999) explained, “Kinship ties are an effective way to cope with uncertainty and economic scarcity.” Granovetter (1973) defined the “strength” of an interpersonal tie as being a function of the “amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding), and the reciprocal services which characterize the tie.” Individuals build and cultivate both strong and weak interper...

road traffic accidents and the effects they subsequently incur are increasing dramatically, and estimating the cost of road traffic crashes could be a vital step in improving the recognition of this widespread problem. the main objective of this paper is to estimate the cost of road traffic crashes in iran using the human capital (hc) method. results of this study indicate that the cost of road...

The Social Security program is almost certain to have a major influence on the Nation’s rate of capital accumulation. For most Americans, Social Security is the primary form of saving for retirement. As such, the high and increasing level of Social Security benefits can markedly reduce personal saving and private capital accumulation; the evidence reviewed below suggests that this does in fact ...

This paper integrates the concepts of person–environment (PE) fit and social capital and examines the social dynamics of organizational newcomers’ development of fit with their new environment in the light of national cultural variations. Specifically, we present a conceptual framework that illustrates how newcomers fit in with their work environment in terms of person–job (PJ) and person–organ...

PURPOSE This article focuses on how visiting contemporary art galleries and discussing the artwork in facilitated focus groups affected culturally inactive participants' social and cultural capital. The research is taken from a larger study that explored the contribution that visiting contemporary art galleries made to the well-being of people aged 64 and older. DESIGN AND METHODS A total of ...