The role of organizational social capital in organizational innovation orientation in knowledge-based enterprises (Case of: university of Tehran, science and technology park)

Because of today's dynamic business environment and three emerging major trends of intense international competition, discrete markets, and changing technology, innovation is drawing increasing attention as a solution. These trends have aroused business scholars’ interest in running in-depth investigations on the concept of social capital as a critical factor in improving organizational performance and creating innovation-based competitive advantages. However, only few research efforts have attempted to investigate organizational social capital and organizational innovation, simultaneously. Therefore, the purpose of present study is to investigate the role of organizational social capital and its dimensions in organizational innovation orientation and also to determine the relative contribution of these dimensions in predicting innovation orientation in the context of knowledge-based enterprises. The research methodology used is descriptive-correlation and the research statistical population encompasses employees of the knowledge-based enterprises in the Science and Technology Park of the University of Tehran. In analyzing the data the correlation analysis methods and stepwise regression analysis was used. The results suggest a positive and meaningful relationship for the organizational social capital and organizational innovation orientation. Thus, the relational dimension of social capital predicts the innovation orientation. However, the cognitive and structural dimensions of social capital cannot be good predictors for innovation orientation in the organization.