Structural Holes,Closure And Social Resources

Social resource theory believes that social capital essentially refers to social resources,which are embedded in the structure of social relationship network.The structural hole theory believes that social capital is actually the structural hole in the relationship network structure.So what exactly does social capital mean? Coleman’s theory of social capital states that social capital is easier to return in closure social networks.With the closure,actors in social networks can cooperate more efficiently and bring greater value to the whole group.Burt’s structural hole theory suggests that social capital is easier to return in open social networks.The presence of openness allows brokers to gain profits from the structure of social networks.So,in what kind of relationship network is social capital easier to return? Different social network forms,their social capital may bring different returns,but the process of social capital bringing returns is conditional.In the process of exploring the source and return of social capital,the above two views of social capital are integrated.In the social relationship network with structural holes,the existence of structural holes on the one hand will bring information advantages and third-party profits,on the other hand,because of the existence of resources embedded in the relationship network with structural holes,social capital can generate conditional sources and returns.Lin Nan’s social resource theory does not explore the complex process mechanism between social capital and generating returns.This paper believes that the return of social capital is also conditional,and a complex causal mechanism exists between social capital and return.The discussion of homogeneity and heterogeneity in Lin Nan social resource theory mainly focuses on the acquisition process of social resources.This paper connects the heterogeneity of resources with the return process of social capital,and believes that the heterogeneity of resources is the condition for the return of social capital.From the perspective of the conditional source and return of social capital: in the closure group,the constraints of the members of the group and the heterogeneity of the resources constitute the conditions of the return of social capital in the closure group.The resource that the actors need but are not directly available constitute the condition of the return of social capital in structural holes network.This paper is a qualitative case study of process-tracing,whose main purpose is to explore causal mechanisms in the occurrence of events.Process-Tracing has three main variants: theory-testing process-tracing,theory-building process-tracing and explaining-outcome process-tracing.This paper uses the theory-testing process-tracing: to propose theoretical assumptions based on the existing literature,and then to test whether the causal relationship of the theoretical hypothesis does exist in specific cases.The cases referred to herein refer not to individual or more interviewees,but to the process of events with causal transmission.The case study referred to in this paper is to track the process of causal transfer proposed in the theoretical hypothesis during the interaction process of the actors,so as to test whether the previously proposed theoretical hypothesis holds.The research results show that closure social group actors are willing to follow Deng Yong and Chen Jie to work in engineering due to the moral pressure and group pressure in the group.The heterogeneity of the resources of Chen Jie and Deng Yong attracted workers to follow them to work,thus giving workers financial returns.The group compliance pressure and resource heterogeneity in the case constitute the source and return of social capital in the closure group.In the open social network,the process of structural holes as a return of social capital is also conditional.In the case,Deng Yong’s relationship with the resource — Tian Ding Expressway and the contract right of the renovation of dilapidated houses,is valuable for Deng Yong and difficult to directly obtain.That is,the resources needed by the actors but not directly available constitute conditions for the structural hole theory.All the three conditional theoretical hypotheses proposed in this paper are tested.This paper has some new findings in the case study: unlike the structural hole proposition proposed by Burt,this study found that the existence of structural holes is not always beneficial to brokers,but the closure elite groups may exists between actors in networks with structural holes,then the structural holes will disappear.Unlike Burt’s suggestion that the structural hole produced economic returns,this study found that brokers could also receive favour returns.This study also found that the process of gaining returns across structural holes could not occur due to other complex social factors.