With globalization and knowledge economy, distance between spaces and obstacles to social and economic activities are reduced, however, R&D activities and technology diffusion of high-tech industry still rely on face-to-face communication. Geographical proximity and social networks are still beneficial to share technology and decrease transaction costs, so clustering of high-tech industry is still popular in the world. The research based on the concept of social embeddedness aims to discuss whether cultural atmosphere and social networks influence the fluidity of labor market, and to know how the fluidity of high-tech personnel and technology learning work on the vertically-integrated optoelectronic system in the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park. The research compares the results of questionnaire and interview with the existing literature to paint a configuration of the fluid labor market and further to discuss the interaction between the labor market activities and high-tech development in the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park. At last, it comes to the conclusion of the differences and commons in different industrial districts by comparing labor market activities. The result shows that employees think job-change is an acceptable value and phenomenon in the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park. Thus the cultural atmosphere will render the fluidity of labor market easy. Due to the industrial cluster forming a labor pooling, job-related information is concentrated and job-change costs are decreased. In addition, workers usually seek and get jobs by strong ties of social networks. So network embeddedness influences labor market activities. The more conveniently job information flows, the higher possibility of workers¡¦ job mobility is. Furthermore, most employees are willing to accumulate technological knowledge and realize ideals by changing jobs. However, some contradictions including wasting educational training, exposing competitors to key technology, and nurturing new competitors coexist with the fluidity of labor market. Consequently, firms are mostly opposed to the fluid labor market. Thanks to the innovations transferred by foreign high-tech personnel, the optoelectronic system is able to escape from the obsolete technology lock-in of the system.

abstract: Individuals' experiences, environment, and education greatly impact their entire being. Similarly, a designer is affected by these elements, which impacts how, what and why they design. In order for design education to generate designers who are more socially aware problem solvers, that education must introduce complex social matters and not just design skills. Traditionally designers learned through apprenticing a master. Most design education has moved away from this traditional model and has begun incorporating a well-rounded program of study, yet there are still more improvements to be made. This research proposes a new Integrated Transformational Experience Model, ITEM, for design education which will be rooted in sustainability, cultural integration, social embeddedness, and discipline collaboration. The designer will be introduced to new ideas and experiences from the immersion of current social issues where they will gain experience creating solutions to global problems enabling them to become catalysts of change. This research is based on interviews with industrial design students to gain insights, benefits and drawbacks of the current model of design education. This research will expand on the current model for design education, combining new ideas that will shed light on the future of design disciplines through the education and motivation of designers. The desired outcome of this study is to incorporate hands on learning through social issues in design classrooms, identify ways to educate future problem solvers, and inspire more research on this issue. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.D. Design 2011

A la croisée des travaux menés en marketing relationnel et en sociologie économique, le concept de l'encastrement social de la relation marchande a été relativement peu traité en sciences de gestion. En vente, il présente un intérêt majeur dans la mesure où il tire son origine d'un processus social dynamique courant, basé à la fois sur la recommandation et la création d'un lien social plus personnel avec le client. Cette thèse porte sur les implications de l'ancrage social de la relation client sur la performance du vendeur. Elle s'intéresse à une population de vendeurs particuliers : les vendeuses par réunion à domicile. Il ressort de nos enquêtes que l'encastrement des échanges marchands au sein d'une structure de relations sociales pré-existantes facilite la conversion d'un client basique en client fidèle qui prescrit le vendeur et les produits auprès de son réseau relationnel. / Between marketing and economic sociology works, social embeddedness of market exchanges has been relatively little studied in management science. In sales research, it is of great interest to the extent that it originates from a dynamic social process based on both recommendation and creation of personal social ties with customers. This dissertation focuses on the consequences of social embeddedness of customer relationship on salesperson performance. Our field study focuses on particular salespersons : direct sellers by home party. It appears that social embeddedness of market exchanges within a structure of pre-existing social relationships facilitates the conversion of basic customer into an advocate who recommend the salesperson and products in its relational network.

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This dissertation investigates the motivating factors as well as the perceived inhibitors to the Nigeria diaspora investing in Nigeria. Two studies address (1) the motivation for the Nigeria diaspora to invest in their country of origin (2) the perceived factors inhibiting them. Not much is known about what motivates diaspora to invest in their country of origin or why investment intensity varies among diaspora communities. To this end, the relationship between the causal factors and Nigerian born diaspora investment interest is examined using Nielsen & Riddle (2007) investment motivation framework. Using this interdisciplinary approach, an individual level conceptual model of diaspora homeland investment is generated. The study shows that members of the Nigeria diaspora community do not invest in their homeland for financial reward. They invest for perceived emotional returns and this is positively moderated by the degree of their social embeddedness in their country of origin as well as in their country of residence. They also invest for perceived social rewards. This is also moderated by their social embeddedness. The second study examined the perceived inhibitors to diasporic investment using the Galetto conceptual framework (Galetto, 2011). According to Galletto, investment is contingent on four main proximate factors; a minimum amount of money remitted or saved; minimum level of local development; the presence of suitable investment opportunities and the existence of specific household arrangement. The study shows that the perceived inhibitors to diasporic investment are: poor physical infrastructure; weak financial system and political instability and risk and that the dominant inhibitor is political instability and risk. Collectively, these two studies examine why the Nigeria diaspora would want to invest in their homeland and what prevents them from doing so. They seek to identify ways to turn diaspora investment and entrepreneurship interest into meaningful investment in the country-of-origin. Understanding why the nascent Nigeria diaspora investor or entrepreneur invest in their homeland and the obstacles they face is an important first step to identifying ways that governments can attract diasporic investment and entrepreneurship through marketing and other promotional efforts. Finally, this research lays a foundation for a stream of future research, building on the findings and data generated in the process of addressing the research questions. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

As the world becomes more globalized, multinational corporations (MNCs) are obliged to spread and open subsidiaries in foreign countries. Unfortunately, some countries have unstable political systems that exist in a state of systematic crisis. For corporations whose subsidiaries are caught in the middle of a political crisis in foreign territories, this unrest presents high physical and economic risks. Thus, what types of threats do firms encounter, and how do they perceive them? Can their experience influence their perception of the crisis? The focus of this dissertation is to study the decision-making process of multinational corporations in times of political and economic crisis at a subsidiary level, utilizing the example of Mozambique. Two studies were conducted. The first was drawn on prior literature on threat perception, social embeddedness and MNCs’ reaction to external threats. A conceptual model of MNCs’ response to political crises in frontier markets was developed. The antecedents or predictors of exit included influences on exit decision, past experiences, crisis perceptions and the moderator effect of social embeddedness between perception and exit. The second study focused on MNCs that not only decided to stay in the foreign market, but seek for unique opportunities in an economic crisis. The conceptual model created is simple, and builds upon existing literature on social embeddedness, MNCs’ experience, and international staffing. Within the international staffing literature, it provides a strong contribution to the theories on parent country nationals and host country nationals, implementing new constructs such as parent company experience and subsidiary company experience. Both models were tested using a survey data from managers of 108 MNCs’ subsidiaries in Mozambique, some of which exited due to the economic and political crisis, and some of which remained. The results indicate that both models are mostly supported. These studies contribute to the literature involving MNCs in host countries, including threat perception, social embeddedness, local content, international staffing, expatriates and past experiences. In practical terms, they provide a tool for both policymakers and private MNCs to act preemptively in times of political and/or economic crisis. / Business Administration/International Business Administration

Religious institutions are among the deepest reservoirs of social belonging in America, but what determines whether belonging is cultivated in these institutions? Previous research shows that individuals’ social network composition is a primary predictor of feelings of belonging. However, less is known about how group characteristics condition the influence of social networks on belonging. We use data from the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Survey and multilevel modeling to examine how organizational characteristics such as group size, in-group network density, and aggregate ideological uniformity moderate the effects of individual social networks on sense of belonging. Results indicate that both structural (network density, church size) and cultural (ideology) characteristics of groups significantly condition the effects of individual social networks on belonging. Smaller group size, network density, and ideological unity cultivate contexts that amplify the relationship between personal networks and belonging.

Most entrepreneurs have families that highly influence their business­ activities. However, scholars have paid limited attention to how the family as a specific social context impacts entrepreneurial outcomes, such as new venture creation, firm growth, and exit from entrepreneurship­. This thesis investigates how the family influences such outcomes at different levels of analysis: the individual level, the firm level, and the regional level.  The theoretical framework is developed by integrating the theory­ of social embeddedness with literature on family business and entrepreneurship­. Empirical evidence is based on a unique multi-level­ Swedish database combining individual-, firm-, and regional-level data. By providing an in-depth understanding of whether the family influence pertains to the whole entrepreneurial process or only to particular entrepreneurial outcomes, this thesis contributes to a new understanding of the family’s role in entrepreneurship. / <p>Diss. Stockholm :  Stockholm School of Economics, 2014.</p>

Il est bien établi dans la littérature en criminologie que les pairs délinquants peuvent avoir un effet néfaste sur les comportements d’un jeune. L’analyse des caractéristiques de l’entourage social est donc essentielle à une compréhension globale des conduites individuelles. Puisqu’il est impossible pour un jeune, délinquant ou non, de se distancer complètement du monde conventionnel (Sykes et Matza, 1957; Warr 2002), il importe de considérer le chevauchement des relations conventionnelles et délinquantes pour saisir l’ampleur du phénomène de l’influence social. De surcroît, le réseau social des jeunes ne se limite pas à leurs amis, les membres de la famille, les collègues de classe et de travail pouvant aussi avoir une influence sur les comportements. La présente étude propose une analyse de l’entourage social de 237 jeunes âgés de 14 à 24 ans, fréquentant les organismes communautaires au Québec. Les résultats révèlent que: 1) la participation à un délit chez les jeunes en communauté est fréquente, 2) les caractéristiques du réseau social, reflétant l’enchâssement social, ne se trouvent pas révélatrices de la participation à un délit, 3) côtoyer les membres de son réseau social en grande intensité réduit de manière significative le volume de délits de marché commis dans une année, et ce, même en contrôlant la présence de contacts délinquants dans le réseau, 4) la présence de contacts délinquants dans plus d’une sphère relationnelle composant le réseau social permet de créer un index de dispersion de la délinquance reflétant ainsi l’enchâssement criminel des jeunes et finalement 5) plus les contacts délinquants sont dispersés à travers les sphères relationnelles, plus le risque de participation à un délit augmente. Toutefois, la dispersion des contacts délinquants dans le réseau social ne prédit pas la fréquence des délits commis. À des fins d’intervention, connaître la dispersion de la délinquance dans le réseau social peut aider à la prévention des comportements délinquants. / Abstract: It is well established in the criminology literature that delinquent peers can have a detrimental effect on young people’s behaviors. The analysis of social environmental characteristics is therefore essential to fully comprehend the unraveling of individual actions. Since it is impossible for a youth, whether he offends or not, to completely isolate himself from the conventional world (Sykes et Matza, 1957, Warr 2002), the overlapping of conventional and delinquent relationships needs to be considered to grasp the extent of the social influence phenomenon. In addition, youth’s social networks are not limited to friends, family members, classmates and co-workers all have a potential influence on their behavior. This study conducted an analysis of the social environment of 237 youth aged 14-24, attending community organizations in Quebec. The results reveal that: 1) crime participation in a youth community sample is frequent, 2) social network’s relational characteristics reflecting social embeddedness are not indicative of crime participation 3) high intensity interactions with social network members significantly reduces market crime commission rates, even when controlling for the presence of offenders in the network, 4) presence of delinquent contacts in multiple social network’s relational spheres allows to create a delinquent dispersion index in order to reflect youth’s criminal embeddedness and finally 5) the more offenders are scattered across different relational spheres that make up the youth’ social network, the greater the risk of involvement in crime is. However, this measure of network delinquency does not predict offending rates. For intervention purposes, looking at network’s delinquent dispersion index might improve prevention of delinquent behaviors.

Ageing in Africa and the world over is a phenomenon that affects individuals and societies. The expanding older population (people aged 60+) in South Africa led to this research, which represents an attempt to explore the experiences of loneliness of older persons in Africa and thereby gain some understanding of the subjective experiences of loneliness of a group of older African persons in their socio–cultural context. Defining loneliness from the existing literature was challenging since it became evident that loneliness in the literature is defined and researched largely in terms of individual meanings attached to the concept, and the applicability of such individual meanings to an African context remains unconfirmed. Experiences of loneliness are not well known among older Setwana–speaking persons, and few studies have focused on collectivistic experiences as such. Loneliness is considered a complex, contextual experience that goes beyond the individual and also includes culture as an inseparable aspect of people’s lives. Conceptualising loneliness as a socially constructed phenomenon places this study within the paradigm of phenomenology exploring people’s experiences. The philosophy of ubuntu relates to being in the world among others thus creating the concept of a social self. In essence, to be a self, one has to belong to a community, and one is always contextualised as an existence among others in interaction. A qualitative design was used together with a purposive convenience sampling method whereby the participants were selected on the basis of their availability during the research period. The participants’ ages ranged from 61 up to 73, and the sample included 16 female and two male participants. Two data sets were collected at different times from members of the Day Care Centre for the Aged in Ikageng, Potchefstroom, South Africa, as well as community residents who did not attend the centre. Various qualitative techniques were used to collect the data including the Mmogo–methodTM, in–depth individual interviews and focus groups. Multiple methods were employed for analysing the data including phenomenological analysis, key–words–in–context and analysis strategies as stipulated by the Mmogo–methodTM. The rigour of the data was enhanced through the use of diverse qualitative data–gathering methods as well as an array of qualitative analysis methods in a process known as crystallisation. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the North–West University, Potchefstroom Campus, under a larger project, “An exploration of enabling contexts (05K14)”. The researchers constructed two main themes from the findings: descriptions of loneliness and coping with loneliness. Loneliness related to the self and to others, and coping with loneliness involved actively engaging with the environment, being with others and using coping strategies. Some of the findings are linked to the existing literature, and some are unique relating to being with others and including social embeddedness as a multi–layered phenomenon connected to experiences of loneliness - it is here where the literature falls short in clarifying the findings within our context. Suggestions are made for future research, and some of the limitations of the study are pointed out. To conclude: Loneliness is a multi–dimensional phenomenon that older Batswana people experience on many levels of engagement with and disengagement from the self and others. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.