Social capital in a collaborative coffee research network in Brazil / Capital social na rede colaborativa de pesquisa do café no Brasil

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

Researchers from various fields of knowledge have investigated the arrangement in networks, to the extent that this form of governance is consolidated as a strategic option, of an increasing number of organizations in different environments, submitted to the auspices of competitiveness and institutional isomorphism. One facet of this phenomenon is the eruption of collaborative research networks, also in Brazil, from the second half of the last decade. This research has taken as a subject of study the network underlying the Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Café in order to assess the explanatory and predictive power of the social capital construct, of wide acceptance in networks theory, starting from the construction of the so called "aplicative" model. It intends to be testable and capable of giving substantive relations to the theorization, including confronting its findings with similar attempts by other scholars. The study had two phases. The first stage was forward-looking and done by immersion in the transcripts of 39 interviews, participant observation in events sponsored by the Consortium, and the analysis of documentary material relating to the research. The second stage used sociometric and multivariate analyses to examine the data: (1) the network of co-authors of articles published in 1495 annals of symposiums and conferences, (2) 889 pieces of research (sub-projects) financed by the Consortium and (3) a survey applied to the universe of 397 leaders of these sub-projects involving more than 50 entities (institutes, universities, enterprises). Assuming its character as hypothetical-deductive, predominantly quantitative and with descriptive and explanatory purposes, the study resulted in a contribution to the understanding of the Consortium and the strategies for linking people and entities within a collaborative network of research proving the viability of its social capital model. Beyond supplying a sociometric description of the object of study, the research found a positive relationship between prestige, participation in bodies of the Consortium and participation in projects with a level of resources hoarded by the researcher - as would be a social capital effect, which however, did not prove to be effective in discriminating the vision of the researchers on topics relevant to the network, favoring an interpretation that gives greater degree of freedom to those agents in term of the structure, in contrast to other deterministic network studies.

ASSUNTO(S)

networks capital social redes social capital redes sociais social networks collaborative networks redes colaborativas

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