The current study focuses on defining the term social value, which has been found to be linked to the various tangible (physical and economic) and intangible (cultural, ethical, human, environmental, social and political) capitals (all these capitals are also discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.3 and Chapter 7, Section 7.4.2). In this study, ‘Physical’ capital refers to the infrastructure and buildings in the community (Korte and Lin, 2013; Coleman, 1988), whilst ‘Economic or Financial’ capital refers to the currency that is available to the members of society for sustaining their lives in the community (Ling et al., 2012; Li and Ferreira, 2011). ‘Cultural’ capital refers to the norms and beliefs held by the members of a society (Yasunobu and Bhandari, 2009; Paldam and Svendsen, 2000) and ‘Ethical’ capital refers to the rules and guidelines of behaviour within the society (Shafer, 2013; Williams et al., 2010). ‘Human’ capital is the knowledge and experience possessed by an individual (Unger et al., 2011; Korte and Lin, 2013), whereas, ‘Environmental’ capital refers to the natural assets that are available to a community or society, such as oil (Anaman and Agyei-Sasu, 2014; Cong et al., 2014). ‘Social’ capital means building networks and trust with the other members of society (Coleman, 1988; Kadushin, 2004), whilst ‘Political’ capital means developing relationships and networks with the political leaders or with the individuals possessing power (Harvey et al., 2005; French, 2011). These capitals are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2, section 2.3.
146 | P a g e Considering the placement of statements that represent the above mentioned eight capitals within the factor arrays are plotted in the Table 6.6 below. Any first two columns that include the statements on capitals are included in the row labelled High, any last two columns that included these statements on capital are shown in the row labelled Low , and the rest of the capitals that fall in between are placed in the row labelled Mid. This table also demonstrate an interesting overview of how these capitals are perceived by all the four factors, which are Factor 1 (Action-Driven social value), Factor 2 (Outcomes- driven social value), Factor 3 (Sustainability-driven social value) and Factor 4 (Pluralism-driven social value).
Figure 6.6: Placement of Capitals within the Factor Arrays
‘Action-driven social value’s participants consider cultural capital (statement 20: ‘Social value is about developing a culture for social value creation’) as the most important among other capitals, as for these respondents, culture enables social value to be produced and developed by the actors (such as individuals and organisations) in society (discussed in Section 6.2.1 above). Physical capital is believed to be necessary for the economic well-being of society (Grootaert and Bastelaer, 2001). Likewise, physical capital (statement 28: ‘Social value is about building capacity in the local community’) is also important to Factor 1 as it allows building infrastructure and capacity to support the members of society to create social value. Coleman (1988) posits that physical capital enables production activity. Political capital
Action-driven value (F1 ) Outcomes-driven value (F2) Sustainability-driven value (F3) Pluralism-driven value (F4) Low (1) Mid (2) High (3) Ethical Capital
Economic Capital Physical Capital Political Capital
Social Capital
Environment Capital
147 | P a g e (statement 36: ‘Social value is about building relationships and trust with the governmental and political leaders’), however, is the least sought as it would mean that social value is dependent on a particular group (political leaders and authorities) for it to be created. The prevalence of political capital is indicated by high political participation in political activity, which is present in formal politics (French, 2011; Teney and Hanquinet, 2012). For participants grouped in Factor 1, environmental capital (statement 42: ‘Social value is about protecting the environment’) is also not the popular way of creating social value, for them, social value is people-specific rather than environment-specific. Sinha Babu and Datta (2015) suggests that environment based organisations uses economic valuation, such as Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) to account for natural capital available in the society, which is different from Social Impact Assessment (SIA).
For participants having the view of ‘Outcomes-driven’ social value, on the one hand, environmental and human capitals are most important; environmental capital (statement 42: ‘Social value is about protecting the environment’) is necessary as they whole heartedly support taking care of the environment as well as the social world around us, and human capital (statement 6: ‘Social value is about enhancing knowledge and skills’), as it enables future generations to grow and prosper. Human capital and environmental capital are closely linked as human capital allows individuals to become sensitive and conscious decision-makers when using products that impact environmental capital (Constantinescu, 2014; Beretti et al., 2013). On the other hand, for respondents in Factor 2, cultural and ethical capitals are not the preferred means of creating social value. Cultural capital, (statement 20: ‘Social value is about developing a culture for social value creation’), for these participants, facilitates both positive and negative social value to be created, and culture can be created by involving stakeholders for fairer distribution of resources, therefore, it is not the primary key for the creation of social value. Similarly, ethical capital (statement 26: ‘Social value refers to doing the right thing at the right time’), is placed towards the negative pole as the respondents believe that ethics are culturally and socially constructed and that individuals should pursue the actions that they desire (discussed in Section 6.2.2 above). It is believed that ethical capital is used by individuals from disadvantaged groups due to lack of sufficient socio-economic resources (Williams et al., 2010).
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For respondents supporting social value created through ‘Sustainability values’ they believe that environment and economic capital are more important than other forms of capitals (discussed in Section 6.2.3 above). The primary reason for their support of environmental (statement 42: ‘Social value is about protecting the environment’) and economic capitals (statement 46: ‘Social value is about investing more money in activities that creates benefit for society’) is that they believe social value consists of economic, environmental and the value created for human-beings. The governmental organisations also tend to adopt sustainable approaches and measures in order to respond to the environmental uncertainties, and in doing so, these organisations develop social, economic and environmental sustainability (Mauerhofer, 2012; Mauerhofer, 2013). However, political (statement 36: ‘Social value is about building relationships and trust with the governmental and political leaders’) and ethical capital (statement 26: ‘Social value refers to doing the right thing at the right time’) do not feature as a preferred way of creating social value. This factor believes that to reduce social value to political capital is a narrow conception, as it is the cultural capital that drives individuals to positive action. As reputation and power possessed by political leaders are a form of political capital that may influence decision-making (Harvey et al., 2005; Garrison et al., 2010), these are indeed narrow concepts that may be related to social value, but do not define social value.
Lastly, participants with the view of Pluralism-driven social value, physical (statement 28: ‘Social value is about building capacity in the local community’), cultural (statement 20: ‘Social value is about developing a culture for social value creation’) and social capital (statement 17: ‘Social value refers to developing connections, networks, trust and relationships with others’) are the most important contributors for social value creation (discussed in Section 6.2.4 above). In this factor, cultural change is key to creating maximum social value, and building the capacity of the community as well as the relationships between people who reside within these communities is essential for the creation of social value. Ungar (2011) also confirms that the presence of physical capital in society enables the members of society to feel safe and secure, whilst Petro (2001) states that the social and cultural capital in a society is linked to the trust established during community participation in the cultural activities. Human
149 | P a g e (statement 6: ‘Social value is about enhancing knowledge and skills’), political (statement 36: ‘Social value is about building relationships and trust with the governmental and political leaders’) and economic capitals (statement 46: ‘Social value is about investing more money in activities that creates benefit for society’) are not the most important for ‘Pluralism-driven’ participants. This is because social value is about providing an environment, where individuals may follow their own path, such as developing skills, and social value happens at grassroots level rather than at the governmental level. Additionally, the respondents in this factor believe that social value creation depends on how much social impact can be created practically. Although firms may utilise social, financial and human capitals for value creation (Vorakulpipat and Rezgui, 2006), social organisations are supported by entrepreneurs and philanthropists for future wealth creation (Acs et al., 2013; Austin et al. 2006).
When all the factor arrays are combined, the importance of each capital for social value becomes apparent. Figure 6.7 demonstrates the degree of importance from ‘Highly’ important to ‘Low’ levels of importance of all the eight capitals as regards social value. Political capital was found to be lowest with three factors supporting this view and placing it in the Low category. Ethical capital was the second least important as two factors placed it in the Low category and two placed it in the Middle category. Likewise, cultural and environment capital were found to be the most important as they were supported by two factors each in the High category. Physical capital was placed by two factors in the middle and two factors in the High category. Social capital, human capital and economic capital were placed in the middle category, as social capital was placed in the middle category by three of the factors, whilst human and economic capital were placed by two factors in the middle category. Chapter 7 will discuss the perceptions of how social value is created in society in greater detail.
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