Social Capital: Analytical Approaches and Possibilities of Measurement at the Level of Organization

The paper considers analytical approaches and possibilities of empirical measurement of social capital at the level of organization. The review of the variety of existing theoretical approaches to social capital demonstrates conceptual inconsistency of this notion. A description of the main provisions of the methodology of measuring social capital developed by the authors is presented, which allows overcoming major problems of social capital measurement at the level of organization. It is shown how the measurement of the three components of social capital and their analysis at different levels of the organizational hierarchy allow evaluating the scope and configuration of social capital of the organization and its possible impact on the organizational functioning. The empirical data collected during the survey conducted by the authors in a multinational company of Russian origin, illustrates the possibilities of the developed technique for the diagnosis and monitoring of intra-organizational relations problems.