The Relationship between Social Capital and Social Health of Commercial Firms in Iran (Case Study: Commercial Firm of Semnan Province)

Abstract

Social capital has attracted the attention of commercial firms so that such movement has also entered the realm of management and commercial organizations. Today human and social capital can been considered as a basis for competitive advantage of organizations. This article is concerned with investigation of relationship between social capital and social health of commercial firms in Iran. Therefore, in order to investigate the above subject and to define the results for hypotheses, data and statistics required for the study have been gathered through questionnaire and also through the existing information available at the system of Iranian commercial firms. The study lasts for one year (2011). The sample included 1400 subjects (950 females, 450 males) accidentally selected and analyzed by using stratified sampling. Data collected was analyzed by using T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results obtained indicate that the all dimensions of social capital are meaningfully related to social health so that highly influence the competitiveness of firms. Also among such variables, marital status, type of product and social services to customers are related to social health. Furthermore, the results obtained from regression analysis showed that the variance changes of Iranian commercial firms' social health are explicated by two variables such as trust and social participation.