Social entrepreneurs boost social capital
Loneliness grows in communities and workplaces. Forty percent of American adults feel lonely, and many workers, including CEOs, feel the same way. Many countries are examining loneliness and searching for solutions. Governments are not standing idle. While the United Kingdom is working to address the problem by creating a position of Ministry of Loneliness, the decline of a sense of community is not new.
In 2000, Professor Robert D. Putnam wrote the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, outlining the distressing state of our communities. Since the publishing of his book, the statistics continue to highlight a declining state of civic engagements. Labor unions continue their weakening with participation standing at 10.5%. Although there is a bright spot with Millennials, volunteering is down to one in four Americans. Professor Putnam calls for a renewal of social capital, a responsibility for communities and workplaces. Social capital is essential, and social entrepreneurs may be the key.
Defining Social Entrepreneurs and Social Capital
Definitions of social entrepreneurship and social capital are necessary before exploring how the two concepts connect into possible solutions. Explaining social entrepreneurship seems simple, but it contains nuances. An undisputed element may be how social entrepreneurs are focused on the “primacy of social benefit.” The authors of Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works highlight how social entrepreneurs change equilibriums. While traditional businesses and government can be restrained in their missions, social entrepreneurs have the flexibility to remove the constraints of a business focus on profit only and a governmental program focus on pleasing as many as possible. Social entrepreneurs tackle societal challenges in unique and potentially disruptive ways.
Defining social capital is more straightforward. Social capital is not about one individual or one individual’s network. According to Putnam, social capital is about a connected community. Reciprocity exists in the connections that contain a sense of mutual obligation and responsibility. Within these relationships, trust is an essential social capital component.
Social capital is further defined by two types: bridging and bonding. As the names imply, bridging is reaching outside of typical networks, extending reach to a diverse group, and bonding is about the quality of the relationships. While bridging social capital increases the number of connections to individuals and institutions, bonding creates a trusting depth to the connections (Engbers et al., 2018). Social capital is multi-dimensional, as one would expect in strong networks, relationships, and connections.
How Social Entrepreneurs are the New Social Capital Builders
With the two concepts defined, social entrepreneurship is the starting point to create less loneliness. Social entrepreneurs upset equilibriums and span organizational boundaries. By their nature, social entrepreneurs build bridges to other entities and diverse individuals. The good news is that social entrepreneurship is growing. Half as many are creating start-ups with a social or environmental mission as those creating ones with a commercial only focus (Groom, 2018). Social entrepreneurship may be a generational disruption, too. Eighty-six percent of Millennials believe business should be a force for positive social impact. Social entrepreneurship seems to grow in importance.
The challenge now is how to enable more social capital where the social entrepreneurs reside and work. With a decline in community-centric organizations and connections, social entrepreneurs have an opportunity to increase social capital through who they collaborate with and how they enable their organization to facilitate the depth and breadth of the connections. Social entrepreneurs can build social capital from within their organization while increasing the social capital in the communities they serve. Both efforts are required for social entrepreneurs to be successful social capital builders.
Building Social Capital Internally
Within organizations, collaboration builds relationships and forms trust, two necessities in social capital and social entrepreneurship (Kwon et al., 2013; de Bruin et al., 2016). Social capital begins from within an organization, and CEOs play a role. CEOs can build bonds by exploring ideas and discussing initiatives with diverse individuals and teams within the company (Cao et al., 2012). By taking these actions, CEOs set an example in a small way.
Social capital is more than a single person, however. To build social capital within organizations, CEOs need to create the intersections in which individuals can collaborate and build relationships. Forming distinctive relationships within a company requires others to experience the talent and results of someone new. When new relationships form, social capital grows. Increased social capital boosts innovation within social entrepreneurial firms. A give-and-take emerges, and from this reciprocity, individuals meet freely to solve problems or develop new initiatives (Baker et al., 2011).
Social capital is shared. Given this element, CEOs can set the example from which social capital can accelerate, but they cannot be the sole instigator. If social capital becomes reliant on a CEO, then it will diminish since the bonding comes from a central point only. In my start-up experience, the CEO spent an enormous amount of time discussing programs and ideas with various individuals within the company. Over time, all ideas needed his approval before any work moved forward. The natural reciprocity to build social capital between team members diminished.
Social capital is as valuable within a company as it is externally. Leadership can start the social capital process, but the key is constructing the platform to empower bonding between team members. As the bonds develop, social capital gains momentum, and greater shared responsibility and results occur. Social capital becomes infectious and valuable within a company.
Building Social Capital Externally
When social capital is healthy within a company, its employees extend the benefits throughout the community. Social entrepreneurs embrace a social benefit, which translates to societal action. Nothing can be left to chance, so it takes engagement to build social capital within communities.
CEOs can set the example again. They can exemplify bridging social capital by developing relationships with different community leaders and executives from other companies. Gaining innovative insights happens through a CEO developing diverse relationships outside of the company (Cao et al., 2012). The connections are two-way, so social capital builds within the community through the social entrepreneur’s mutuality with others.
A networked social entrepreneur begins to create a networked organization. A multiplier effect begins to happen. If a social enterprise has ten, twenty, or more employees and a large percentage of them enable bridging social capital, then they are creating new community connections. More than links, they are building social capital. While the social enterprise may be focused on a narrow social problem, the bridging effect cannot be contained within one area. The bridges being built to other community members entice them to do the same around their areas of social concern. Social capital may need a spark to gain momentum within a community, and one social entrepreneurial firm can be the igniter when a majority of employees engage community members.
Social Entrepreneurs: A Call to Build Social Capital
Social entrepreneurs upset equilibriums, and community engagement is in dire need of disruption. More than disruptors, social entrepreneurs are the new hope for renewed social capital within companies and communities. Lessons about social capital can be learned and supported within a social enterprise. The vital element is to convert the lessons into community actions. When this occurs, the social entrepreneurial firm will gain innovative insights and position their organization for better success. Equally important to the internal benefits is the social capital examples for others in the community to engage.
Social entrepreneurs invest in improving society while building a financially sustainable firm. Both require social capital to increase the opportunity for success. The added effort to inspire greater engagement and less loneliness seems natural, but it will take conscious work to craft the social capital foundation within the company. From this platform, extending social capital into the communities will engage people in fulfilling ways while providing a source of innovation for social entrepreneurs. A win-win, as it should be in a social capital-based community.
This originally appeared on SantaFeInnovates.com and LinkedIn.
References
Baker, E., Onyx, J., & Edwards, M. (2011). Emergence, social capital and entrepreneurship: Understanding networks from the inside. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 13(3), 21-38.
Cao, Q., Simsek, Z., & Jansen, J. J. P. (2012). CEO social capital and entrepreneurial orientation of the firm. Journal of Management, 41(7), 1957–1981. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312469666
de Bruin, A., Lewis, K. V., & Shaw, E. (2016). The collaborative dynamic in social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(3–4), 310–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2016.1140429
Engbers, T. A., & Rubin, B. M. (2018). Theory to Practice: Policy Recommendations for Fostering Economic Development through Social Capital. Public Administration Review, 78(4), 567–578. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12925
Groom, B. (2018, June 15). A third of start-ups aim for social good. www.FT.com. https://www.ft.com/content/d8b6d9fa-4eb8-11e8-ac41-759eee1efb74
Kwon, S.-W., Heflin, C., & Ruef, M. (2013). Community social capital and entrepreneurship. American Sociological Review, 78(6), 980–1008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122413506440