Linking Bonding and Bridging Ownership Social Capital in Private Firms: Moderating Effects of Ownership–Management Overlap and Family Firm Identity

This study examines the relationship between bonding and bridging ownership social capital (OSC) for a random sample of 679 privately held small and medium-sized firms. Results confirm the positive effects of bonding OSC (quality of relationships and shared vision) on bridging OSC (network mobilization) as well as two- and three-way moderator effects of family firm identity and ownership–management overlap. Moderator effects are more robust, however, for the shared vision indicator of bonding OSC. Implications for social capital theory, social and organizational identity theory, and family firm research and practice are discussed.