Analyzing Levels of the Social Capital Concept Using Meta-synthesis Approach

Today, social capital plays a key role in organizations and societies. It is so important regarding that without it, the return on investment of other capitals may be reduced. Considering the importance of this kind of capital, we are witnessing numerous studies in different levels and contexts which introduce various indicators at different levels of analysis for the three dimensions of the social capital concept. Therefore, an integrated study of these researches to identify the key indicators of this concept at different levels of analysis is necessary. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyze the indicators of social capital at different levels of analysis. For this purpose, the meta-synthesis approach and deductive content analysis method were used. The population is 5195 articles in the field of social capital in the scientific databases from 1970 to 2018, of which 72 articles were selected by judgment sampling method. The initial result was extraction of primary codes in the form of 14 sub-categories and grouping them under three main categories of social capital. Examining and studying the literature related to these indicators showed that three levels of analysis for the social capital concept can be explained. These three different levels of analysis are: macro level (communities), meso level (groups or organizations) and micro level (individual actors).