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The research project empirically assesses the influence of an under-researched aspect of social capital on the family firm’s entrepreneurial behaviors. Specifically, blending social capital, which consists of bonding social capital and bridging social capital that develops between family firms and external family stakeholders, is considered in examining the family firm’s engagement in innovation efforts. Additionally, familial tie strength and outside business ownership of external family stakeholders are argued to moderate the proposed relationship between blending social capital and family firm innovation. The surveying methods for assessing the hypothesized relationships included conducting a two-wave study with adapted, modified, and validated scales. Also, some variables were collected using the Mississippi Secretary of State, the U.S. Copyright Office, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey databases. The theoretical model is analyzed using hierarchical regression and moderated regression using IBM SPSS 28 Process Macro (Hayes, 2021), structural equation modeling with AMOS, and scale development techniques to ensure the validity and reliability of the measurement instruments. The goal is to identify potential antecedents for enhancing the innovation capabilities of family firms.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / The United States has resettled unaccompanied minors before. In the 1960s and 1970s, minors from Indochina were resettled in the United States. In the 1970s, the U.S accepted 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba through Operation Peter Pan. Many of these Cuban minors, aged five to eighteen, were sent to the United States by parents fearing their children would be indoctrinated in communist schools. In the case of these minors, they arrived in the United States with the consent of their still-living family members. In contrast, about 3,500 Sudanese Lost Boys were resettled in the United States in 2000, and more recently in 2010, 53 “lost children” from Haiti were brought to the United States following a devastating earthquake. This study investigated the integration and assimilation patterns of the Sudanese Lost Boys in the Kansas City area with the purpose of understanding the sociological impact on these Boys from their own perspective. As opposed to previous studies done on these Boys in Kansas and other areas in the United States, the present study used interview-based research and analyzed data using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The study concluded that the Lost Boys were both “Lost” and “Found” in complex ways. The study found that unaccompanied refugees labeled as minors at the time of resettlement integrated more “successfully” than those resettled as adults. Minor Boys received certain advantages over Boys who were labeled legal adults. Over time, those resettled as minors accumulated more social capital relevant in American society, while those resettled as legal adults fell behind. The findings highlighted problems associated with age-based treatment of refugees, especially in the case of the Boys who were arbitrarily classified as adults. Assigned ages significantly impacted their assimilation process into American society. Unlike those Boys resettled as minors, legal adults did not have access to structure and immersion opportunities afforded by foster families, formal education, and social activities. This study concluded that age-based disadvantage was evident in the case of the Lost Boys.

Abstract Title: Building Trust: The contradiction between security and democracy in post apartheid South Africa Author: Magnus Persson Supervisor: Svante Lundberg This paper aims to investigate the contradiction between security and democracy in post-apartheid South African policing, and was executed on the field together with the South African Police Service (SAPS). The theoretical point of departure is that trust between people, in relation to the institutions of society, is fundamental to democratic development. This in combination with previous research on police reform, police academy socialization, community policing and militarization has lead to the conclusion that a remilitarization process is under way and that a militaristic approach to policing is likely to be counterproductive in terms of achieving democratic development. The study has been executed on a South African police academy as well as at two different police stations with the combined methods of participatory observation and interviews.

Many scholars claim that Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history. Using two important essays of Max Weber as a foundation, this thesis examines whether growth of Pentecostalism in Latin America is promoting the Protestant Ethic described by Weber as well as Social Capital and Spiritual Capital. Analyzing data from the World Values Survey, this thesis argues that growth of Pentecostalism in Latin America is not creating a new Protestant Ethic among its followers, nor is Pentecostalism creating any greater Social Capital or Spiritual Capital among its followers when compared to other religious groups in the region. This thesis argues that the strong emotional character of Pentecostalism weighs against the creation or Social Capital and Spiritual Capital and that the tendency of Pentecostals to find assurance of their salvation in emotional experience does not promote the frugality or rationalization of work necessary for the Protestant Ethic.

The innovation ecosystem’s online presence continues to grow with the emergence and maturation of ICT-based platforms. With these new channels, a diversity of actors, including firms, scientists, universities, media entities, and individuals, interact to satisfy their information needs and to access and mobilize network-based resources. This research is among a growing number of social science studies examining the advent of social media and its influence on the innovation process, asking, “How do different types of actors use social media to form network linkages, and what kinds of innovative outcomes will result?” To study this complex network activity, I turn to Twitter, the popular microblogging service, and focus on the case of graphene, a novel nanotechnology material consisting of a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms. Twitter is one of the world’s most often-used social networks, boasting over 500 million users (200+ million active). Graphene, on the other hand, is a relatively well-bounded area of scientific inquiry with ongoing, concurrent scientific and commercialization activity. The primary sample dataset derives from 34 graphene firms’ friend and followers relationships captured in early 2014. Nine interview transcripts supply qualitative data. The results show that network formation on Twitter is not random and that certain actor relationships predict following linkages. A series of network visualizations show that users agglomerate in communities; these communities exhibit greater density than the larger ecosystem network and a propensity to congeal in topically focused ways. That is, each community indicates a coherent topical focus, suggesting that graphene firms follow specific sets of users in ways that support their information and resource needs. At the micro-level, an unstructured text mining approach to operationalizing and computing information distance shows that increasing amounts of topical distance between any two users decreases the likelihood of a tie existing. Are innovation outcomes more likely to occur in strategically-developed and information-rich social media networks? Drawing on different sources of “behavioral additionality” – or changes in behaviors as a result of social media participation – I identify ex-ante several such plausible outcomes, which could include increased awareness, improved problem solving ability, community development, and greater sales. The qualitative results show that social media participation results in increased awareness of graphene and related ecosystem topics, but engagement is a key tactical maneuver that actors pursue, often in varying ways, to access and mobilize other resources. Policy implications are targeted at intermediary institutions and scientists, while management implications focus on high-technology SMEs. Limitations include alternative theories to explaining social media participation and engagement, methodological issues, and the continuing evolution of social media platforms and usage patterns. Future work is considered to address the temporal nature of network construction and topical growth (or constriction), as well as the ability to map areas of science and technology through social media data.

Traditional research into pro-environmental behaviour change has a tendency to be focussed on either the context in which practices are enacted or the cognitive processes that lead to particular behaviours. Research is often located within individual disciplines, with policy implications defined by (often) narrow interpretations of a problem. Despite increasing recognition of the ability of behaviour change to significantly contribute to the reduction in emissions required to meet UK targets, policy is so far failing to encourage ‘normative’ low carbon practices in many areas of life. Based on theories of social practice, this thesis attempts to redress the relationship between individuals and behaviour in order to discover how energy practices are developed, maintained and reconfigured. Specifically, it develops a phenomenological approach to energy consumption by exploring how energy practices are experienced by individuals on a daily basis, based on the premise that much human behaviour is driven by individuals’ perceptions of their actions. The study highlights the importance of the meanings and associations that individuals possess in relation to their energy practices and how these are implicated by their experiences, past and present. Furthermore, it contends that practices are influenced by social interactional dynamics and normative frameworks within the home, as well as by the form and frequency of social relations external to the home. With energy consumption so closely interlocked with the practices with which individuals engage in a daily basis, this thesis suggests that policy needs to be more in tune with the everyday experiences of energy consumers. It concludes by setting out a form of policy-making that has the potential to reduce everyday energy use by being sensitive to the experiences and well-being of individuals and society.

The purpose of the study was to describe how networking can provide competitive advantage to facilitate growth when offering consultancy services toward the public sector. The majority of companies are looking to expand their business due to different reasons. With todays intense competiton on the market it is becoming increasingly important to outperform competitors in order to maintain the current customerbase aswell as it is to gain new businesses. Companies that work toward the public sector have special laws, directives and regulations that have to be taken into account when conducting business. Involvement with networks is based on different reasons, it can be due to gaining new customers, contacts and knowledge to name a few.   The authors have performed a qualitative case study with a focus on two companies. The empirical findings is based on information collected through interviews with these companies and through a quanitative self-completion questionnaire with a sample group of 16 repondents. By analysing the empirical information the authors have concluded that networking activities are important in order to prosper growth. However, there is a lack of networking strategies among the two companies of focus which constraint the firms to get the most out of the networks.

The effects of Gated Communities (GCs) were analysed. According to the literature, these urban artefacts are negative for society. They are blamed to provoking social segregation, social exclusion and undermining democracy. In a Latin American context the consequences could be worse. Latin America has the highest level of social inequality in the world and the rapid growth of GCs is making this inequality more visible. This study implemented the concept of Social Capital, in order to understand the urban problems in this urban geography. The study is based in Machala, a mid-sized city in Ecuador. It was found that GCs’ residents lack of trust of outsiders, residents are more distant from disadvantage groups, social networks are being homogenised and there is a stigmatisation of life outside the community’s walls. This study seeks to create awareness on the type of urban growth in Machala by exploring the consequences of fragmentation, privatisation and segregation via GCs.

In this qualitative user evaluation participants in the project refugee guide, Falun, was interviewed about their experience of the project and how the project contributed to their integration into society and establishment on the labor market. The collection of empirical data has been made by six interviews. The results of the evaluation indicate that participants feel that they through the project had the opportunity to meet new people, practice the language and learn about each other's culture. The results also show that participants are satisfied with the project. Some participants expressed a desire to meet with several people at once while others don´t have that need. Furthermore, the interviews shows that establishment on labor market occurred through job placement and not through participation in the project. Integration proved to be a difficult concept to define, but the interviews show that the participants have a perception that it is about learning the Swedish language and culture. / I denna kvalitativa brukarutvärdering intervjuas deltagare i projektet Flyktingguide i Falun, om deras upplevelse av projektet och hur projektet bidragit till deras integration i samhället och etablering på arbetsmarknaden. Insamling av empirin har gjorts genom tre individuella och tre gruppintervjuer, i varje gruppintervju deltog två informanter. Resultaten från utvärderingen visar att deltagarna upplever att de, genom projektet fått möjlighet att träffa nya människor, träna på språket samt lära sig om varandras kultur. Resultaten visar även att deltagarna är nöjda med projektet. Vissa deltagare uttrycker en önskan om att träffa flera personer samtidigt medan andra inte uttrycker det behovet. Vidare visar intervjuerna att deltagare i utvärderingen har blivit etablerade på arbetsmarknaden via arbetsförmedling och inte genom deltagande i projektet. Integration visade sig vara ett svårt begrepp att definiera för deltagarna, men intervjuerna visar att deltagarna har en uppfattning om att det handlar om att lära sig det svenska språket och kulturen.