Since early 2010, Facebook.com, the world’s most popular social network site (SNS), has come under a storm of media criticism over the commercial use of its users’ personal information. Yet even as more became known about the fact that Facebook sells publicly shared information to companies for advertising purposes, two years later the SNS amassed one billion members in October 2012. Based on in-depth interviews 30 Millennials (18 to 32-year olds) and 10 Boomers (48 to 58-year olds) that are daily users of Facebook, this dissertation provides a qualitative analysis of attitudes toward privacy and personal information disclosure on Facebook. What steps—if any—are being taken by users to regulate their personal information disclosure? How do users feel about the website selling their personal information to advertisers? What are the benefits of using Facebook and do they outweigh the risks of having one’s information used for commercial purposes? Or is it even seen as a risk at all? What are the sociological implications of users’ answers to these questions? I challenge prevailing conclusions that the intensity of Facebook use is associated with higher levels of social capital and that Facebook is especially useful for maintaining and building bridging ties to one’s acquaintances. On the contrary, among Millennials in my study, the website is used for maintaining bonding ties between close friends and family members, not bridging ties between acquaintances; that the maintaining of bridging social capital is by comparison merely a passive benefit. As well, while the Boomers in my study use Facebook to maintain bridging ties, maintaining social capital is not a consideration. In arriving at this conclusion, I thematically broke out the benefits of using Facebook as Facebook is my life online, Facebook is my primary connection to others, and Facebook is a convenient communication and information tool. As well, the perceived risks of using Facebook involve a lack of privacy and, to a lesser extent, issues of control. For the Millennials and Boomers in my study, the practical benefits of using Facebook outweigh the perceived risks, and the perception of control on the user’s part is a key factor in rationalizing their ongoing use of the website. As a practical application of my findings, I propose how the marketing research industry might apply these findings toward learning more about consumers.

This thesis has examined how expatriate managers in Russia create and use social networks with other individuals, in order to be successful in their assignment on an international unit. The study has also focused on how corporations can benefit from these networking activities conducted by the expatriates. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with expatriate managers on location in Russia in order to answer the research question. The interviews have later been analyzed by using a theoretical framework mainly based on the social capital theory and the main findings are as follows. Expatriate managers in Russia create networks with other individuals in order to both receive new business opportunities but also for adjusting to life in Russia. Corporations themselves do also benefit from these social networks, since they can create foundations for new business opportunities and increase corporations general image. The limitations of this study are that only Swedish expatriates have been included in the presented empirical material.

Whether entrepreneurial opportunity is objectively existed or it could be deliberately created is still a disputable issue in academic filed. However, increasing number of scholars tend to conclude that entrepreneurial opportunity comes from a process of recognition, discovery and creation by alerted entrepreneurs. Based on this point, it seems to be obvious that entrepreneurs must have some kind of knowledge and abilities, poses special source of information and involved in certain social networks. So that they can easily find those opportunities that other can¡¦t. In this study, I apply Ardichivili¡¦s(2003) opportunity identification and development theory to discuss this issue through a viewpoint of human capital and social capital. Seven entrepreneurs were interviewed to conduct the survey, and the content is analyzed through six coding unit to show the following results: 1. The general human capital is intermediately positive to opportunity recognition and highly positive to opportunity development. 2. The specific human capital is highly positive to both opportunity recognition and opportunity development. 3. The weak-tie network is highly positive to opportunity recognition but low positive to opportunity development. 4. The strong-tie network is highly positive to both opportunity recognition and opportunity development. 5. Entrepreneurial human capital is mediated by social capital to have positive effects on opportunity recognition and opportunity development.

Due to the rise of social networking, people spend more time on the Internet. They not only make friends and express their emotion in the real life, but also in the virtual world. In the stage of the Internet, which without limit in time and space, we can even perform so that other people can spectacle and join us. Hence, through the IT design functions which social network websites offer, how users can perform or spectacle easily on the social network websites, and what the meaning is about the action-dramas which users have performed. A private blog-Plurk, which we also called micro blog, is using as a field of study. In this thesis, we use Ethnography survey to observe and interview the users. We use Coffman¡¦s Dramaturgical approach as the study framework, and divide it into five parts- Front Stage Style, Team Management, Role Play, Impressions Control and Intimate Relationship to analyze. In the data analysis, we compare IT function design and performing dramas. We will find out what the affordance the IT function can offer, and what the drama will perform. Finally, we will sort out the implications of the management and social capital. From this thesis we can learn: 1. What kind of IT functions offer to users on Plurk? 2. Through these IT functions, what kind of action-dramas will perform? 3. What are the implications and meanings of all these action-dramas? This thesis focus on the performing dramas and IT affordance because of the difference between IT function offer and design, the action-dramas will perform quite different, and the IT affordance will facilitate different key point. Therefore, from this thesis we hope that we can figure out some important functions and reasons that people is willing to stay longer on our website and some instructions for the website designers.

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Based on the insight from Fukuyama¡¦s notion of trust, the main philosophy of the study is: How is it possible for societies characterized by traditional paradox of familism to move beyond the limited radius of trust (in-group collectivism) and reach to the wider and greater social trust (institutional collectivism)? With family as a starting point, the study is based on three theoretical traditions: social capital theory, third sector research and social entrepreneurship studies. Drawing on two case studies in the specific area of social care services in Taiwan and Germany, research questions are addressed as: How does family-driven social entrepreneurship have emerged and developed in two different societies? If any, what is the main difference between the developments of two cases? And how this difference can be explained through social capital theory? Following social emergence paradigm, three foci of analysis, namely social context, collective actors, and emergence process are discussed. Furthermore, three analytical tools for family-driven social entrepreneurship are developed, that is, four-sector-division framework (based on the concept of welfare mix), entrepreneurial system (based on Bruyat and Julien), and domestic versus civic orders of worth (based on Boltanski and Thevenot). The findings suggest that with family as a starting point, social entrepreneurship is grounded, emerges and evolves in the distinctive social contexts. For the case of Taiwan, with the role of self-help group, family-driven social entreprenurship might provide the potential for social transformation from family tie to beyond family, creating a new organization in the third sector. In contrast, for the case of Germany, social entrepreneurship development presents as from family-driven social entrepreneurship to community development. With multi-level associations and the functional coordination among the public administrations, third sector organizations and families as well as the surrounding communities, family-driven social entrepreneurship may reach at the institutional level. By integrating to and coordinating in the coherent interaction between formal institutions and informal cultures, the development of the German case can be related to institutional collectivism. Based on the implications, a contextual Framework for family-driven social entrepreneurship is proposed, namely Family, beyond family, and institution: Developing family-driven social entrepreneurship in Context. From my perspective, social entrepreneurship not only aims to make the isolates re-integrate into society, but also, with macro vision, to make institutions change for society. The direction of institutional change, echoing Fukuyama, is toward the development of an inclusive and vital society through social capital and trust, that is, not only cultivating personal and particularistic trust but also enriching generalized and institutionalized trust in society. With those aims, social entrepreneurship is context-sensitive. Both ends and means of social entrepreneurship are embedded in social context. As a concluding thought, I stress that social entrepreneurship is contextual. With family as a starting point, social entrepreneurship is grounded, emerges, and evolves in distinctive contexts in different societies. Furthermore, in line with Fukuyama, but going further, it is possible for the societies traditionally characterized by the paradox of familism to move toward more inclusive and higher trust through social entrepreneurship. In its essence, social entrepreneurship reveals the ethic of economic life in modern society, that is, not only to accumulate material wealth, but rather to enrich trust for the wider-society as wide a society as possible.

Throughout Chinese history the dominant political philosophy has been that of the ¡§rule of men¡¨. This tradition has an indirect influence on scholars researching the problems of the CCP¡¦s political succession, as they often emphasize Chinese political culture, ¡¥guanxi¡¦ and faction theory, in which they analyze the patters of factional struggles and factional development through the perspective of a conflict. However, Susan Shrik tries to explain that the struggle for power involves other factors such as a person¡¦s departmental distribution of interests. Andrew Nathan discusses the development of factions from a systemic point of view. The group of scholars that focus on the latter perspective seem to be breaking away from the ¡¥social¡¦ aspect of political science, making it difficult to define the motivations of actors within different factions in humanistic terms. In this paper we decided to analyze the problems of political succession within the CCP not only through traditional theoretic patters but also incorporating ¡¥social capitol theory¡¦ as well. In this way we can better analyze how factions and their members build and manage their ¡¥guanxi¡¦ during the process of political succession. Through the analysis of the social context, institutions, and norms involved in factionalism and political succession we can better understand how factions and their members pursue power and legitimacy through the building of social capital in the political succession process. Thus, this paper seeks to use social capital theory to create a clear idea of the role of factions and their members within the CCP during the political succession process.

The research aims to explore the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and firm performance when Taiwanese SMEs are expanding their business territory in China. Apart from social capital, there would be more other moderating variables existing in the environment. However, after literature review and in-depth interviews with the SMEs owners/directors/executives, social capital has been regarded as the possible influential factor affecting the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. In the second part of the research, comprehensive literature and studies relating to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial orientation are investigated and summarized. Later, the literature of social capital and firm performance is summarized in order to develop the hypotheses to examine the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and firm performance. This is an empirical research, assisting with in-depth interviews with Taiwanese SMEs owners/directors/executives to outline the findings more accurately. The statistical tools applied in the thesis include SPSS and AMOS. The findings of the research have come up with some practical implications and suggestion. The implications of the results might intrigue people who are interested in the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on organizational success. Lastly, some suggestions are made accordingly for the further development.

Using human capital theory and social capital theory, I develop a model to explain the circumstances surrounding outside director appointments, patterns of outside board affiliations and outside director exits. I investigate why individuals become outside directors, why they continue to serve as directors after appointment, and why they terminate their service on boards. I find that an executive's home firm career and prestigious affiliations predict the likelihood and patterns of outside directorship service. Outside directors are critical to effective corporate governance, and to understand the board-governance process we need a better understanding of outside director service.

China has experienced the rapid socioeconomic change that leads to the evolution of social and physical environment in urban neighborhoods. In recently built neighborhoods, residents lack mutual trust and a sense of community; the neighborhood open spaces have been improved but still do not function well for developing resident social capital. Social capital is a comprehensive concept for evaluating community development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate residents’ social capital in China’s urban context and to examine the relationships between social capital and neighborhood open spaces. The review of literature identified five interpersonal factors of social capital: social network, trust, security and safety, belongingness, and engagement, which were related to neighborhood physical environment. In the city of Guangzhou, two neighborhoods were selected as study fields and two hundred and fifty subjects were randomly selected in each neighborhood to participate in a questionnaire survey. More than 75% subjects returned questionnaires. Ten residents of them then participated in semi-structured interviews. Observation recorded residents’ activities in open spaces. Data were analyzed by statistical methods and domain analysis strategy. The results of statistical examinations demonstrated that residents living with a large number of neighborhood open spaces had higher degrees of social capital than residents lacking open spaces; residents using open spaces frequently developed higher degrees of social capital than residents using open spaces less; residents who were satisfied with their open spaces held higher degrees of social capital than those who were not satisfied with open spaces. Semi-structured interviews explained that well-designed open spaces attracted inhabitants to participate in outdoor activities, which encouraged social interaction among residents, enhanced their mutual trust, expanded social network, and strengthened belongingness to neighborhood. However, open spaces were found not to obviously improve resident engagement. Observations unveiled that a highly versatile and flexible outdoor space was the favorite place for residents of all ages.