Women and Business Networking: A Social Capital View
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Women and Business Networking: A Social Capital View Mamata Bhandar Manipal GlobalNxt University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(Dekker and Uslaner 2003). Resources from social capital are cited as some of the reasons that women seem to be occupying less central organizational roles and therefore have less access to decision-making, influential positions.
Introduction Definition This entry adopts the definition of networking as proposed by Singh et al. (2006) who summarize networking as activities by individuals attempting to develop and maintain relationships with those perceived to have the potential to assist them in their work or career. Activities constitute maintaining contacts, socializing, engaging in professional activities, participating in the community, and increasing internal visibility (Forret and Dougherty 2004). Social capital is the value/benefits that one gets from one’s social relationships through networks – formal, informal, social, family, friends, professional, memberships, etc. It manifests as trust, norms, cooperation, information benefits, and power (Adler and Kwon 2002) in the network, influencing members’ actions to help each other. Networking helps build social capital that influences career advancement benefits (Alfred 2009; Zdroik and Babiak 2017). It connects people in a social network that provides value and reciprocal exchange
Promoting gender equality (UN SDG goal 5) has become the goal for nations, organizations, and social welfare institutes. However, gender inequality still persists worldwide. The problem extends to the professional space as well. In the majority of the 67 countries with data from 2009 to 2015, fewer than a third of senior and middle management positions were held by women showing the severe underrepresentation of women in managerial positions (UN.org goal 5). This entry investigates women networking from a social capital view to help promote gender equality in this professional space. Women networking and social capital have both been shown to help women get access to resources and information in the workforce for career benefits (e.g., Clarke 2011) which can help achieve the gender equality goal for 2030 that requires urgent action to eliminate the many root causes of discrimination that curtail women’s rights in private and public spheres (Unwomen.org Europe and central Asia). While studies have indicated the benefits of networking and social capital for professional growth, they have also suggested that women
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Gender Equality, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_32-1
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Women and Business Networking: A Social Capital View
face a lot of barriers to network and hence do not derive as much benefit from it as men do. Networking, be it social or professional, formal or informal, helps in the building of an individual’s social capital. In simple words, social capital is the value derived from relationships and that manifests as trust, norms, recipro
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