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Social capital’s role in the development of volunteer-led cooperatives

Adam Richards (Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK)
John Reed (Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK)

Social Enterprise Journal

ISSN: 1750-8614

Article publication date: 5 May 2015

745

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how social capital is developed in a third sector organisation based in the north-west of England, a small food cooperative run by volunteers. Social capital comprises the bonds, bridges and linkages that hold together societal members, and it can be considered to be a precursor of economic capital.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data were collected through interviews with key informants, observations and documents. Data were analysed using either a template or a thematic analysis to identify aspects of social capital development.

Findings

A model of the interactions between and within the three main stakeholder groups involved in the cooperative is presented. This model shows how these interactions can develop social capital, and it discusses how potential deficits in social capital can occur.

Research limitations/implications

The findings have practical and theoretical implications, in that they may better equip third-sector organisations to understand how social capital is developed.

Originality/value

This is one of few practical studies of social capital development in a social enterprise and provides valuable insights into the processes by which this is done.

Keywords

Citation

Richards, A. and Reed, J. (2015), "Social capital’s role in the development of volunteer-led cooperatives", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 4-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-09-2013-0037

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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