An Investigation of Status and Relationship of the Concepts of Social Capital and Knowledge Management among Emergency Medical Services 115 Employees in Ahvaz

This study attempted to investigate social capital and knowledge management concepts among the employees of EMS (emergency medical services) 115 in Ahvaz. It also tried to determine the relationship between the two concepts. The research is of a descriptive-analytic type which used a survey method and a questionnaire to collect the data. The questionnaire consisted of two parts; a researcher-made questionnaire for social capital and a questionnaire for knowledge management adopted from Foolad (2014) which is based on Jashpara’s 4-loop scale. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were measured. The population consisted of 287 people working in the EMS headquarter as well as those serving in 29 medical stations throughout the city of Ahvaz. The questionnaires were distributed in person and 244 questionnaires (over 61%) were fully completed and returned and used in the analyses. SPSS 19 was used to analyze the data. To determine the level of each variable and it components, one-sample t-test was applied and to test the relationship between the two variables of social capital and knowledge management, Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used. The results showed that total social capital among the employees is at a “fairly desirable” level, and for knowledge management is at a “moderate level”. There is also a positive significant correlation at a “moderate level” between the two concepts of social capital and knowledge management. Finally, some suggests are offered.