Please, your question need more clarity. 

When we talk about social capital, it is important to understand the context and the mechanisms behind the value of social capital. If we are talking about the access to information, then the number of ties (or the centrality measure) might be the measure for it. If you are talking about trust and support in social networks, then tie strength might be appropriate. 

A good paper to read on this is: 

Carpenter, M.A., Li, M. and Jiang, H., 2012. Social network research in organizational contexts a systematic review of methodological issues and choices. Journal of Management, 38(4), pp.1328-1361.

Hi Vasudha,

I would say that centrality measures are just one part of the picture. Power is also a question of the overall situation of an actor in the network. In this sense Merton also makes the distinction between "Locals" as in-group leaders and "Cosmopolitans" as leaders with more far reaching social contacts. I've proposed a social capital measurement based on triadic role patterns (see also R. Burt (1989) on "Detecting Role Equivalence" or Hummell and Sodeur (1988) on "Strukturbeschreibung von Positionen...") which was publiched in Connections:

Volker Täube (2004), "Measuring the Social Capital of Brokerage Roles", in: Connections 26(1), p. 29-52.

Thanks Olga. I have browsed thru the reference, and it will be very useful.

You wrote ".....mechanisms behind the value of social capital.....".

My understanding is that bridging, bonding etc. are the mechanisms of social capital. Am I right? Can you give me some other  example of the mechanism?

What is the value of social capital? I feel it is an abstract notion since SC is multi-dimensional.  Lin's article on  network theory makes social capital  quantifiable.  Degree centrality can quantify communication. But how to quantify  other subjective aspects like trust, ?I am looking for a quantifiable measure. Can you give me some pointers.  

Regards and thanks once again.

Thanks Volker for the references. I will go thru and revert back, in case I have a problem. Your work seems relevant for my research. Can I take liberty to email you for clarification in your 2004 paper?

Is is right to say that nodes with high degree centrality are "locals" and those with high eigen vector centrality are cosmopolitans?

Regards

We need to distinguish between form and content of social network. If we are talking about friendship network the content will include trust and support. If we are talking about advice network the content will include information and resources. The level of content (e.g., trust, support, information and resource) will depend on the number of ties (for example: in-degree centrality measure). 

Yeh! makes good sense.

Thanks!

Broadly, social capital is defined as the value extracted from network relationships. Depending on the context, this value might come in the form of the access to monetary resources, access to information, mentorship, referrals (in job search), psychological support, knowledge sharing, etc.

Bridging and bonding are the types of social capital - the former focuses on network expansion, the latter - on the strength of ties. 

Trust in social networks is quantified (perhaps, imperfectly) by self-reported strength of ties, where respondents , for instance, fill the survey with the names of people they are most likely to ask for advice.

There is plenty of literature on this subject.

I would recommend, for example:

Cotton, R.D., Shen, Y. and Livne-Tarandach, R., 2011. On becoming extraordinary: The content and structure of the developmental networks of Major League Baseball Hall of Famers. Academy of Management Journal, 54(1), pp.15-46.

Seibert, S.E., Kacmar, K.M., Kraimer, M.L., Downes, P.E., & Noble, D. 2014. The role of research strategies and professional networks in management scholars’ productivity. Journal of Management, in press. DOI: 10.1177/0149206314546196

Thanks Olga.

Hi Vasudha,

as concerns your question related to closeness (Locals) and Eigenvectors (Cosmopolitans): yes, you are right. This is also how I tried to point it out in my article. Of course, if you have further questions, don't hesitate to contact me.