Social Capital in Second Life
Online Information Review, 34 (3):
295--316 (2010)DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14684521011037007
Аннотация
Purpose: Second Life is a user-created online virtual world, which
is a place where people with shared interests can meet and be together
and share information. The purpose of this study is to investigate
whether Second Life communities foster and nurture social capital,
whether social capital within Second Life is related to social capital
outside the virtual world, whether some characteristics affect the
likelihood of users having social capital, and whether some existing
measure of social capital can be modified and used to study social
capital in Second Life.
Design/methodology/approach: Study is based on a statistical analysis
of data gathered in a web survey of a convenience sample (N=67) of
Second Life residents. The social capital measure used was based
on Bullen and Onyx, 1998.
Findings: Second Life is an environment that fosters the emergence
of social capital. Residents, who consider themselves as producers,
have higher levels of social capital than those, who consider themselves
as non-producers. Having social capital within Second Life is unrelated
to having social capital outside the virtual world. Consistency of
the instrument proved to be excellent for measuring social capital
within Second Life and good outside the virtual world.
Research limitations/implications: Small sample size and the composition
of the research population limit the possibilities to generalise
the findings.
Practical implications: Second Life is a potent environment for community
building and collective action. Communities and collective action
within Second Life cannot be based, however, on the social activity
outside the virtual world.
Originality/value: The present study is the first systematic investigation
of social capital in Second Life.