Social Capital, a theory for Operations Management.

Rupert Lawrence Matthews (1) , Pete Marzec (2)

1 business school
2 Business School

As Pfeffer (1993) states, until agreement is reached on a subject, progress may be slow. This paper converges the discussions on social capital in the operations management literature by way of a systematic literature review of 3 and 4 star journals. Human Resource Management, voluntary work and entrepreneurship were identified as minor themes within the review and thus potentially underexplored areas. Quality management, project management and new product development show significant use of social capital and particularly the role of social capital in the intrafirm environment. Finally, supply chain management showed the most significant use of social capital, particularly in explaining the characteristics of buyer-supplier relationships and how these impact interfirm performance. Future areas for research are identified as drawing upon all the aspects of social capital rather than focusing upon relational. The paper concluded by proposing a conceptual model of social capital for use within operations management.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Rupert Lawrence Matthews, Pete Marzec. Social Capital, a theory for Operations Management.. International Journal of Production Research, 2011, pp.1. ⟨10.1080/00207543.2011.617395⟩. ⟨hal-00744826⟩