In this issue we feature 6 current papers on the theme of social capital:

Access to full contents may be restricted. To subscribe/unsubscribe follow this link: http://lists.repec.org/mailman/options.

1. Social Network Sites, Individual Social Capital and Happiness - Efstratia Arampatzi; Martijn J. Burger; Natallia A. Novik
2. Do you trust me? – Go Fish! A Study on Trust and Fisheries Management - Eggert, Håkan; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina
3. Altruistic and risk preference of individuals and groups - Yoshio Kamijo; Teruyuki Tamura
4. Schumpeter, Veblen and Bourdieu on Institutions and the Formation of Habits - Bögenhold, Dieter; Michaelides, Panayotis G.; Papageorgiou, Theofanis
5. Gender Interaction in Teams: Experimental Evidence on Performance and Punishment Behavior - Seeun Jung; Radu Vranceanu
6. Refuting the Cliché of the Distrustful Manager - Sabine Hommelhoff; David Richter

1. Social Network Sites, Individual Social Capital and Happiness

   Efstratia Arampatzi (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

   Martijn J. Burger (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

   Natallia A. Novik (Université de Strasbourg, France; Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

 Can online social contacts replace the importance of real-life social  connections in our pursuit of happiness? With the growing use of social  network sites (SNSs), attention has been increasingly drawn to this topic.

 Our study empirically examines the effect of SNS use on happiness for  different subgroups of young adults. More specifically, we examine whether  the effect of SNSs on happiness is moderated by individual social capital, as  measured in terms of frequency of social contacts and feelings of loneliness.

 Using Dutch data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social  Sciences (LISS panel), we provide robust empirical evidence that there is, on  average, no relationship between the amount of time spent on SNSs and  happiness. However, we find a negative association between the numbers of  hours spent on SNS and happiness for SNS users who feel socially disconnected  and lonely. The results hold when we control for socio-demographic  characteristics, trust, hours spent on other Internet sites and household  income. Hence, SNSs are not a substitute for real-life social connections  and, at most, complement them.

   Keywords: Subjective well-being; happiness; social network sites; individual social capital; social isolation; loneliness

   JEL: I31 L86 Z13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160085&r=soc

2. Do you trust me? – Go Fish! A Study on Trust and Fisheries Management

   Eggert, Håkan (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

   Kataria, Mitesh (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

   Lampi, Elina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

 This paper investigates trust among stakeholders in fisheries management. We  asked the general public, environmental bureaucrats, and recreational and  commercial fishers whether they believed various stakeholders have sufficient  knowledge to take a stance regarding fisheries management issues in a choice  experiment they themselves had just been exposed to. We found that the  general public and recreational fishers tend to trust bureaucrats to have  sufficient knowledge, while bureaucrats distrust the general public. The  commercial fishers in our sample deviate from the other respondents with high  self-trust and low trust in both the general public and bureaucrats. In  addition, bureaucrats tend to think that their colleagues are more  knowledgeable than them. When looking at observable characteristics, we find  that, regardless of comparison group, males show higher trust in their own  knowledge than do females, and those with higher education believe they are  more knowledgeable than people in general.

   Keywords: Trust; Fisheries Management; Overconfidence; Choice experiment

   JEL: Q22

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0675&r=soc

3. Altruistic and risk preference of individuals and groups

   Yoshio Kamijo (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology)

   Teruyuki Tamura (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology)

 This study examines whether attitudes toward risk and altruism are affected  by being in a group or being alone. Subjects in our experiment were requested  only to show their faces to other members without any further communication,  differing from previous studies. In experiments of both anonymous investments  and donations, we found that subjects who made decisions in a group offered  significantly lower amounts than individuals who made decisions alone, even  controlling for individuals' risk and altruistic preferences. Our results  indicate that people are more risk averse and self-interested when they are  in a group.

   Keywords: Group decision, Altruism, Decision under risk

   JEL: C91 C92 D81

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2016-12&r=soc

4. Schumpeter, Veblen and Bourdieu on Institutions and the Formation of Habits

   Bögenhold, Dieter

   Michaelides, Panayotis G.

   Papageorgiou, Theofanis

 As we know, Joseph Alois Schumpeter is one of the greatest economists of all  times, while Thorstein Veblen is an economist and sociologist who made  seminal contributions to the social sciences. Pierre Bourdieu, meanwhile, is  one of the most famous structural sociologists, who has consistently worked  on economic dynamics. These three scholars have laid the foundations of a  socioeconomic perspective. However, several important aspects of their works  remain less widely discussed, or even inadequately explored in a comparative  manner. Of course, investigating the origins of their ideas in evolutionary  and institutional economics and re-evaluating comparatively the influences  that shaped their works is quite useful for promoting dialogue between  Economics and Sociology. Within this framework, this essay focuses on the  conceptual relationship between Schumpeter, Veblen and Bourdieu. Evolution  and Change shape the economic life in their respective works and, in such a  framework a central point of their analyses is the interdependence between  the cultural, social and economic spheres. Furthermore, an economic sociology  is built around the concept of habit formation. The three great authors’

 systemic views focus on the various institutions and other aspects of  cultural, social and economic life, where habits are formed and cover diverse  fields and notions such as Consumption, Preferences, Art, Knowledge, Banking  and even Capitalism. For instance, all three social scientists acknowledged  the fact that the internal dynamics of capitalism introduce structural  instabilities into the economic system. Also, they recognized that research  and knowledge development is a collective social process. However, from a  methodological perspective, their main emphasis is on the emerging dynamic  evolution of habits, which is perceived as the interruption of already  existing social norms and the conflict between routine and change. Several  differences between Schumpeter, Veblen and Bourdieu are observed and analysed  and ideas for future research are presented.

   Keywords: Schumpeter, Veblen, Bourdieu, Habits, Consumption, Capitalism

   JEL: B15 B25 B31

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74585&r=soc

5. Gender Interaction in Teams: Experimental Evidence on Performance and Punishment Behavior

   Seeun Jung (ESSEC Business School - Essec Business School, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS

    - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), PSE - Paris School of Economics)

   Radu Vranceanu (Economics Department - Essec Business School)  This paper reports results from a real-e ort experiment in which men and  women are paired to form a two-member team and asked to execute a real-eff  ort task. Each participant receives an equal share of the team's output.

 Workers who perform better than their partner can punish him/her by imposing  a fi ne. We manipulate the teams' gender composition (man-man, man-woman, and

 woman-woman) to analyze whether an individual's performance and sanctioning  behavior depends on his/her gender and the gender interaction within the  team. The data show that, on average, men perform slightly better than women.

 A man's performance will deteriorate when paired with a woman, while a  woman's performance will improve when paired with a woman. When  underperforming, women are sanctioned more often and more heavily than men;  if sanctioned, men tend to improve their performance, while women's  performance does not change.

Keywords: Gender studies,Real-e ort task,Team production,Performance,Punishment,Discrimination

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01171161&r=soc

6. Refuting the Cliché of the Distrustful Manager

   Sabine Hommelhoff

   David Richter

 Although trust is fundamental to social and organizational functioning, the  media often portray managers as distrusting, suggesting that distrust of  others is a typical personality variable of successful leaders. This study  puts the cliché of the distrustful manager to the test. Both selfreport data  (N = 32,926) and behavioral data (N = 924) from the German Socio-Economic  Panel refute this cliché. Analyses reveal that individuals in managerial  positions neither show a lower level of trust before, nor a systematic  reduction in trust after attaining such positions. Moreover, analyses  demonstrate that managers are generally more trusting than non-managers. This  selection effect implies that individuals who trust others are more  successful in achieving managerial positions than their less trusting  counterparts.

Keywords: management; trust; distrust; trust game; panel data

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp871&r=soc

This nep-soc issue comes without any express or implied warranty. You may contact the editor by reply to this mail.

General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org.

For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at < director @ nep point repec point org >.