Beyond the social capital rhetoric – an investigation of the use of social networks in the co-ordination of intra-enterprise activities: A case study of small-scale rural non-farm enterprises in Zimbabwe

Frequently within social capital discourse it is reported that people increasingly identify with their local communities, using their local relationships as an important foundation for economic and social action (Duke et al. 2005). For the past decade social capital has become instrumental in economic policies and development programmes. In fact, the reading of Granovetter (1985) that social capital is both a glue and lubricant has reinforced the views of some scholars and convinced others that economic processes cannot be fully explained by pecuniary variables and rational behaviour alone. Against this backdrop many researchers have been investigating the role of social capital in various aspects of human engagements, which include economic activities.