Social Capital in Work Place, Productivity and Socio-Economic Development

Introduction: The social capital subject has become a major topic in economic debates and considered to be a vital issue along with physical and human capital in recent decades. Without social capital, investing in physical and human capital cannot be productive and also without creating trust among workforces in workplaces there cannot be an effective social capital to promote productivity. Studies have shown that social capital has more important role than other types of capitals and without this, it would be so difficult to obtain cultural and economic development. In addition, Tehran is one of the most major province of Iran that has the most employee and therefore, various activities going on in industrial areas that represents the condition of social capital indicator in the country's workplace. Thus, this study is conducted to examine social capital in workplaces and production communities as well.
Method: The method of research was survey by using questionnaire technique. In order to measure reliability the Cronbach's coefficient alpha was used and two type of validity including face and construct validity were tested. 500 employee selected by random sample in industrial province of Tehran and data were analyzed by SPPSS.
Findings: Findings have shown that the amount of social capital including social trust, social participation, social norms, social support and social relationship among these employee was average. (30.6 percent had high amount of social capital, 32.40 percent average and 37 percent low). The results of the survey also have indicated that the level of social capital was somewhat average. Low social capital makes efficiency low. So it must be increase in social capital to increase productivity. Social networks and strong links were effective factors in finding jobs and reducing the risk of unemployment, and according to study large percentage of people found their jobs through social network.
Discussion and conclusion: Therefore, it should be noted that low social capital makes labor efficiency and productivity down, then in order to increase labor productivity, their social capital has to be increased; social networks and links have also been effective in finding jobs and reducing unemployment risk. Since the social participation was worse than other components, it seems that attention to the issue of participation could be a first step towards increasing social capital in the workplace and subsequently increasing productivity. According to research findings related to trust, it seems that appropriate mechanisms should be put in place to increase trust in work place. Keywords: Social Capital, workplace, Labor and Production, Productivity, Labor and Production Society, Socio-Economic Development