How do We Know Who Knows Who: An Empirical Assessment of Social Capital Usage for Turkish and Greek Cypriot Steel Manufacturing Industry Managers

Year 2016, Volume: 30 Issue: 4, 702 - 724, 01.10.2016

Mustafa Sağsan Nazım Adem Karasalih

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the social capital measurement of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot steel-manufacturing industry managers studied through the social network analysis method. The aim of thisresearch undertaking isto find out the social capital usage of managers constructed on a relational basis. The comparative analysis between the two communities is conducted to understand to what extent Cypriot managers employed in steel-manufacturing companies fill in structural holes occurring in the Cypriot community. The epistemological dimension of this study is based on the anti-positivist paradigm. For this reason, the methodology refers to the quantitative analysis.10 Turkish Cypriot and 10 Greek Cypriot managers are involved in this study by using the focus group techniques in the context of quantitative methodology. The brief definition on social capital is given to the respondents and they were asked to mark their social relationhip between 0, which represents no relationship, to 10, which refers to the strongest level of relationship. After gathering data, the UCINET software program was used by mapping out the social relationship among the managers. The evidence accumulated confirmed that social capital has played a vital role in the creation of new social networks in the case of Cyprus. The analysis has highlighted the inadequacy of the social interactions between the two communities, likely stemming from the political and economic issues and challenges of the Island.

Keywords

Social network analysis, relational social capital, structural holes, social embeddedness, brokerage roles, Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, island economies.

Kimin Kimi Bildiğini Nasıl Biliriz: Kıbrıslı Türk ve Rum Çelik Sanayi Yöneticileri İçin Sosyal Sermaye Kullanımının Ampirik Bir Değerlendirmesi

Abstract

Bu çalışma özetle Kıbrıslı Türk ve Kıbrıslı Rum yöneticilerin sosyal ağ analizi metoduyla sosyal sermaye kullanımlarının ölçümlenmesiyle ilgilidir. Bu araştırmanın amacı yöneticilerin aralarında oluşan ilişkisel sosyal sermayenin kullanımını bulmaktır. Çelik sektöründe hizmet vermekte olan Kıbrıslı yöneticilerin Kıbrıs toplumu içerisinde oluşan yapısal boşlukları ne denli doldurabildiğini ölçebilmek adına her iki toplum arasında bir karşılaştırma analizi yürütülmüştür. Bu çalışmanın epistemolojik boyutu anti pozitivist bir yaklaşım üzerine dayanmaktadır.Bu nedenle, çalışma yöntemi kantitatif analize dayanmaktadır. Araştırmada 10 Kıbrıslı Türk ve 10 Kıbrıslı Rum yönetici bir araya getirilerek odak grup tekniğiyle veriler toplanmıştır. Kendilerine sosyal sermaye ile ilgili bilgi verildikten sonra birbirlerini ne kadar iyi tanıdığı sorulmuştur. Aralarında hiç tanıdıklık yok ise 0, birbirleriyle çok iyi tanıdıklık düzeyine sahipseler 10 puan verilmiştir. Daha sonra bu veriler Ucinet programına girilerek sosyal ağ ilişkilerinin haritası çıkartılmıştır. Kıbrıs örneğinde Sosyal Sermaye yeni sosyal ağların oluşumunda çok önemli rol oynamıştır. Analizlere bakıldığı zaman her iki toplum arasındaki sosyal etkileşimin eksikliği görülmüştür. Bu durumun Kıbrıs adasının politik ve ekonomik durumundan oluşmuş olabileceği öngörülmektedir. Sonuç olarak her iki toplumun çelik sektöründe hizmet veren yöneticilerinin ilişkisel sermayelerini artırmalarının toplumda daha sağlıklı sosyal sermaye kullanımına ve yeni sosyal ağların oluşumuyla ekonomik ve politik sorunlarında çözümüne ulaşılabileceği tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

Sosyal ağ analizi, ilişkisel sosyal sermaye, yapısal boşluklar, sosyal yerleşiklik, aracılık rolleri, Kıbrıslı Türkler, Kıbrıslı Rumlar, ada ekonomileri

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