Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

The More Satisfaction, <strong>the</strong> Best Productivity: Examining
<strong>the</strong> Relationship Between Social Capital and job
Satisfaction Among Staff at an Iranian Company
Korosh Gholami 1 , Behjat Yazdkhasti 1 , Rasool Rabbani 1 and Abdoulbaghi
Roushani 2
1
Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran
2
Researcher at Iranian Welfare Organization, Sanandaj , Iran
korosh_gholamiko@yahoo.com
b.yazdkasti@ltr.ui.ac.ir
rarabani@ltr.ui.ac.ir
Roshani_a2000@yahoo.com
Abstract: The aim <strong>of</strong> this research was investigation <strong>of</strong> relationships between social capital and job satisfaction.
The research population included 1000 staffs (630 males and 370 females) from an Iranian organization. Among
this population, 293 subjects (187 males and 106 females) were studied as research sample. The sampling
method was a combination <strong>of</strong> snowball and simple random methods. This study was survey-based. The data
have been collected throughout two types <strong>of</strong> questionnaires: The first one is Minnesota job satisfaction and <strong>the</strong>
second one was researcher-designed social capital questionnaire. Dimensions like network, norm, trust, and
participation were measured via social capital questionnaire. By drawing network relations among people under
<strong>the</strong> study, two types <strong>of</strong> closed and open networks were recognized. This investigation carried out using UCENET
s<strong>of</strong>tware scales. In addition to UCENET, o<strong>the</strong>r statistical analyses were accomplished using SPSS s<strong>of</strong>tware
(Version 14). The research findings reveal two states <strong>of</strong> job satisfaction among research population: one is
instrumental and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r one is social. In <strong>the</strong> instrumental case, social capital in open networks has led to
increase job satisfaction and conversely, in social job satisfaction state, social capital in closed networks has
resulted in increasing job satisfaction. However, in general, social capital has positive effect on job satisfaction.
(r=0.594, sig=0.000)
Keywords: social capital, job satisfaction, norm, trust, network (close & open), participation
1. Introduction
In recent decades <strong>the</strong> progress <strong>of</strong> countries like Japan in employing human power in <strong>the</strong> best way,
especially participant management for employees, has grabbed <strong>the</strong> attention <strong>of</strong> various societies
including western countries toward this subject and has seriously encouraged <strong>the</strong>m to invest in this
field. Therefore, utilizing this factor, large organizations such as Ford, IBM and so on have been
successful in improving efficiency and job satisfaction among <strong>the</strong>ir staff. (Zohoori, 2007, P162)
Job satisfaction is one <strong>the</strong> basic concepts that play a crucial role in increasing job performance
among employees and considered as a determinant for most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organizational variables. Different
studies have shown that job satisfaction is counted as an important factor in improving productivity,
increasing staff responsibility for <strong>the</strong> organization, <strong>the</strong>ir dependency and interest toward job
environment, and reinforcing <strong>the</strong> quality and quantity <strong>of</strong> work. Motivated human power is <strong>the</strong> most
important factor <strong>of</strong> productivity.(Bahrololoom, 2004, P84).
There are a lot <strong>of</strong> factors that form job satisfaction in each organization which, in general, can be
divided into two categories: individual and organizational. However, for o<strong>the</strong>rs this categorization is
different; <strong>the</strong>y categorize <strong>the</strong>m into internal and external factors. In this categorization, <strong>the</strong> internal
aspects include personal characteristics, emotional feelings and states and external aspect consists
<strong>of</strong> organizational, social, and cultural conditions and qualities.(Mirkamali, 2008, P75)
Individual or internal factors are embedded in psychological explanations in which factors such as
age, level <strong>of</strong> education, sex and gender, experience, and emotional intelligence can be mentioned.
In organizational factors <strong>the</strong> indicators like job content, supervision, wage, and promotion chances
can be referred. However, among <strong>the</strong> organizational factors <strong>the</strong> most significant one is <strong>the</strong> individual's
network <strong>of</strong> relations in <strong>the</strong> organization, embedded in sociological explanation, in o<strong>the</strong>r words
individual's social capital in <strong>the</strong> organization which play a fundamental role in forming individual's job
satisfaction. Hence, <strong>the</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> this study is to investigate <strong>the</strong> relationship between social capital and
job satisfaction.
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