The Relationship between Social Capital and Knowledge Management among Staff Personnel of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: Social capital, as a network of communication and mutual trust in an organization, has a significant role the production and development of knowledge. This article studies the relationship between social capital and knowledge management among the personnel of Shiraz University of medical sciences.Materials and Methods: The study is a descriptive- correlative one. The statistical population included 1300 employees working at Shiraz University of Medical Science with a sample of 296, using Cochran formula. Two questionnaires were used as the instruments of the study. The first questionnaire, used to assess the level of social capital, was designed by Nahapyt and Ghoshal (1998) and contains three components- cognitive, structural and relational. The second questionnaire was Haddad’s standard questionnaire (2003) for assessing knowledge management, with four components: knowledge creation, knowledge registration, knowledge establishment, and knowledge sharing. The reliability of social capital and knowledge management questionnaires were 0.682 and 0.803, respectively using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman correlation coefficients).Results: The findings showed that there was a positive relationship between social capital and the component of knowledge management such as creation, registration, establishment and sharing. Also the correlation coefficients showed that the correlation between social capital and creation and registration components was more. That is, by raising social capital, creation and registration components increase more than other components.Conclusion: The authorities of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences are recommended to provide the proper ground for knowledge promotion through social capital.