Методологические основы изучения социального капитала организации: парадигмы и обоснование понятия

Организационная психология. 2020. Т. 10. № 1. С. 14–28.

Почебут Л. Г., Чикер В. А., Volkova N.

Purpose. The main aim of this article is to underpin methodologically the concept of “organizational social capital” as the unique semantic space that combines and unifies employees to deal with the challenges, based on the trust, cooperation standards, commitment to organizational goals and values as well as creating a reputation for internal and external environment. The methodology is a field of knowledge about research approaches and methods, studying ways to unearth the objective truth and accurate knowledge. The methodology is based on the scientific paradigm that identifies the conceptual scheme both to set and challenge actual problems. Paradigm is particular exploratory theories and concepts that can be a basis for new models, main basic definitions, and system of thought. Psychology is multiparadigm science which gives researchers a unique opportunity to study individual’ psyche and social group involvement under various points of scientific knowledge. The methodology of this article reflects the main paradigms for the concept of social capital in the organization. The findings of scientific analysis let us emphasize two scientific paradigms — social constructivism (E. Husserl’s phenomenology and symbolic interactionism developed by G. Mead) and cognitivism (the social identity theory developed by H. Tajfel and self-categorization theory introduced by J. Turner). The paradigm of social constructivism explains the social behavior of individuals based on common values and meanings that underpin modern discourse and symbolic resources of the culture. Cognitivism paradigm is that social interactions are based on cognitive constructs creating the sole semantic area. Conclusions are that it is possible to describe the concept of “organizational social capital” based on the above-mentioned theories. Originality is that there is a scientific underpinning of the studied definition.

Keywords: методология научного исследования, Organizational social capital, methodology research, scientific paradigm, научная парадигма, социальный капитал организации