The main idea in social capital theory is that people gain both tangible and intangible resources at the individual, group, and organizational level through social interactions and connections with others (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Lin, 2001; Putnam, 2000). A key focus in the theory is that social capital resources are embedded within, available through, and derived from social networks of interconnected people, groups, or nations (Bolino, Turnley, & Bloodgood, 2002; Inkpen & Tsang, 2005).

The concept of social capital initially appeared in work that examined the importance of building strong families and local communities (Jacobs, 1965; Loury, 1977). Hanifan (1916) is credited as having first used the term “social capital” and described it as “goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals and families who make up a social unit, the rural community” (p. 130). Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) defined social capital as the sum of both actual and potential resources that can be obtained from, or derived from, the network of relationships of which an individual or a social unit is a member. The concept of social capital has gained widespread research attention in a variety of fields, and ha....