Resource Generator style measurement items for individual Social Capital of single entrepreneurs without personnel (ZZPs)

Martin van der Gaag, Ingrid Wakkee, Mandy van Tilborg

Department of Organization Sciences

Faculty of Social Sciences

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

This set of Resource Generator items (Van der Gaag & Snijders, 2005) has been developed for the measurement of resources exchanged – merely accessed or actually mobilized – by individuals work as single entrepreneus without personnel (ZZP’s in the Netherlands). They are aimed at unveiling productivity and especially goal specific productivity effects of social capital on company outcomes. Mind that in their current form, the items are phrased as use of social capital, not mere access to them, although the question still remains whether respondents note the actual difference (see Van der Gaag & Webber, 2007). In a two studies (Van Tilborg, 2009; Van der Gaag, Wakkee & Van Tilborg, 2010), the items were used with role categories denoting the relationships via which they were used; that could all be checked:

·  unions for ZZPs

·  intermediaries or brokers for ZZPs

·  trade associations

·  fellow ZZPs

·  the Chamber of Commerce (KvK)

·  accountants/book-keepers

·  investors/banks

·  customers/commissioners

·  suppliers

·  family members

·  life partners

·  friends

This is work in progress – use the items for inspiration and adjustment to your own study. What to do with the items once you’ve collected your data can be found in Van der Gaag (2005) – if you get stuck send a mail. Should you decide to use the items in your study – please keep us informed so we can help apply them and post your work on the social capital measurement pages http://www.xs4all.nl/~gaag/work where all background literature can also be found. Criticism suggestions (perhaps you’ve thought of much better items) your translations and all kinds of questions are welcomed at

REFERENCES

Van der Gaag M.P.J. (2005) The measurement of individual social capital. Groningen: Ph.D dissertation.

Van der Gaag M.P.J.; Snijders T.A.B. (2005) The resource generator: Social capital quantification with concrete Items. Social Networks 27(1):2005:1-29

Van der Gaag, Wakkee & Van Tilborg (2010) The effect on success
of positive and negative social relationships in networks of independent self-employed entrepreneurs. Paper presented at the XXX Sunbelt Social networks Conference, Riva del Garda, Italy, june 28- july 4th.

Van der Gaag M.P.J. & Webber M. (2008) Measurement of Individual Social Capital: Questions Instruments and Measures. Contribution to Kawachi I; Subramanian S.V.; Kim D. (eds.) “Social Capital and Health”. Springer.

Van Tilborg M. (2009) Gezamenlijk alleen: Onderzoek naar de positieve en negatieve effecten van sociaal kapitaal op de prestatie en innovativiteit van zelfstandigen zonder personeel. Amsterdam: MSc thesis.


Questions in English


“Which of the kinds of help listed below did you receive last years from each of the earlier mentioned parties?”

Positive resources

01.  Information about markets customers competition

02.  Information about technology products services

03.  Information about practical entrepreneurship and organising

04.  Help in organizing location machines and equipment

05.  Access to new customers

06.  Access to new commissions

07.  Help in gaining trust with financial institutions

08.  Help providing legitimacy and a good reputation

09.  Emotional support

“Networks are useful for you as an entrepreneur, but not always! Many entrepreneurs have people in their network that can have negative influences on your activities as an entrepreneur. Below, four negative relationships are listed, that can easily trouble the life of a ZZP. Please indicate whether there are any of such relationships in your business network and which roles these people play.”

Negative roles

01.  Alters using benefits of relation with you, but adding little themselves (Free Riders)

02.  Alters you cannot get rid of draining you of energy(Black Holes)

03.  Alters with bad reputations you may be associated with (Bad Apples)

04.  Alters that prevent you from expanding by imposing commitments on you (Blockers)

Part of the Measurement of individual social capital pages http://www.xs4all.nl/~gaag/work .