Assessing social capital in academic research teams: a measurement instrument proposal

Abstract

The increasing importance of multidisciplinarity and scientific collaboration makes it necessary to explore the configuration and structure of relationships within researchers’ teams. The academic social capital construct can be particularly useful to conceptual- ize these internal ties. Nevertheless, the majority of studies in the academic context have measured social capital through social network techniques, drawing on quantitative counts of encounters to measure relationships. This approach fails to measure more qualitative and behavioural dimensions of social capital, which also need to be accounted for to fully understand relational dynamics within research teams. Considering this, the paper aims to propose and validate an instrument to measure academic social capital that combines the two approaches. First, based on the consensus opinion of an expert panel (Delphi method), a questionnaire comprising 20 items was designed and implemented. The scale was com- plemented with sociometric questions for assessing position and interconnectivity within the network. Second, an exploratory factor analysis technique was applied. The designed instrument was specified as a second-order model with three first-order factors (relational dimension, cognitive dimension and structural dimension) and a second-order factor (social capital). The confirmatory factorial analysis verified that the proposed model fit the sample data, showing that it could be used to reliably measure academic social capital.