Search results for ""Author Kenneth W. Koput""

Social network analysis was, until recently, a relatively unknown branch of sociology and anthropology. The development of menu-driven computer software packages has opened up access for a wide range of audiences, including business and human resource managers. Yet, the tools themselves are of little value without an understanding of the concepts that can relate the computed measures to relevant applications. Social capital provides a framework for relating the abstract world of graph theory, which underlies network analysis, to the concrete world of human behavior. This book teaches how to understand and manage social capital to facilitate individual and organizational learning and goal attainment. Coverage includes both orchestrating relationships of others and navigating one's own social interactions. Written at an introductory level and accessible to those without background in network analysis or graph theory, this text combines both comprehensive analysis and concrete concepts to emphasize how critical a role social capital's applications play on the foundations of business as we know it today. A reference book for practice and academia, this book will appeal to graduate and undergraduate students of business, business executives and all those concerned with cultivating and refining an understanding of social capital.

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Social network analysis was, until recently, a relatively unknown branch of sociology and anthropology. The development of menu-driven computer software packages has opened up access for a wide range of audiences, including business and human resource managers. Yet, the tools themselves are of little value without an understanding of the concepts that can relate the computed measures to relevant applications. Social capital provides a framework for relating the abstract world of graph theory, which underlies network analysis, to the concrete world of human behavior. This book teaches how to understand and manage social capital to facilitate individual and organizational learning and goal attainment. Coverage includes both orchestrating relationships of others and navigating one's own social interactions. Written at an introductory level and accessible to those without background in network analysis or graph theory, this text combines both comprehensive analysis and concrete concepts to emphasize how critical a role social capital's applications play on the foundations of business as we know it today. A reference book for practice and academia, this book will appeal to graduate and undergraduate students of business, business executives and all those concerned with cultivating and refining an understanding of social capital.

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`Koput and Broschak have brought together in one place the key resources with which anyone interested in social capital, in all of its varieties, should be familiar. The introductory chapter is a comprehensive yet accessible primer on the formation, deployment, and consequences of social capital at multiple levels of analysis and also provides a clear agenda for future research. This volume is a "must have" for anyone working on social capital or related topics.' - Alison Davis-Blake, University of Minnesota, US `This volume collects foundational empirical papers that develop the concept of social capital, including studies of job search, team composition and inter-organizational collaboration. The collection is graced by a thoughtful introductory essay that explores both the strengths and limitations of the social capital concept.' - Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US Innovative social investments are key to succeeding in the increasingly connected business environment. Within this authoritative volume, the editors have brought together seminal works which will help managers and entrepreneurs to better understand how to forge investments in social relationships to match the unique needs and circumstances of their business. Rather than comprising a social capital menu from which businesses can order by mimicking others, the selected articles in this volume provide a foundation to grasp the social mechanisms at work in the generation and use of social capital. This important collection provides both scholarly and lay readers an opportunity to weigh the evidence of social capital's limits as well as its promise.

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This illuminating monograph introduces a status-equilibrating, social capital explanation for the persistent gender stratification in the field of information technology. The authors analyze why the workforce has become increasingly male-dominated over time by looking at how pre-employment conditions provide different experiences and opportunities for women and men. Employing a large-scale, longitudinal data set, this book forays further into the field than other contemporary studies, where all too often the debate focuses on broad and potentially too-far-reaching differences between men and women that are difficult to prove, making for spirited conversation but little else. The authors collect, analyze and present data on social interactions, sex-role attitudes and behavior, leadership, demographics, program retention, job placement, and career attitudes for five cohorts of undergraduate students spanning their last two years in a management information science program and through the job search process. By testing novel theory against their data, the authors demonstrate how structural factors interact with individual characteristics to determine not only who enters the field, but also how they enter it and whether they are likely to stay. These and other analyses ultimately lead to concrete suggestions for addressing gender stratification in the IT industry. Raising - and answering - stimulating questions that will invariably enrich the field, this discerning volume will appeal to IT professionals and those in management roles in the discipline, as well as students and scholars of sociology, management, women's studies, and social and organizational psychology.

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