What is the importance of social capital in Czech agriculture? An analysis of selected components

Abstract

The paper examines the role of social capital in Czech agricultural sector. It is argued that social capital, just like economic capital, can be employed as a resource for the improvement of economic performance of agricultural enterprises. This hypothesis is tested on a sample of primary data and an analysis of the selected indicators of social capital is presented. These include personal social networks, membership in agricultural associations and access to sources of information. Following the results, it is argued that the presence of informal personal ties displays a stronger relationship to the entrepreneurial success than formal membership in agricultural associations. This outcome suggests a comparatively strong role of social capital in the dynamics of the sector.

Keywords

• social capital
• social networks
• agriculture
• sociology
• microeconomics