Abstract:
The Jewish community in South Africa is considered to be highly entrepreneurial and
has positively impacted national economic growth and employment. Currently, the
South African economy is faced with unemployment and low economic growth and
requires positive change. The Jewish community is an example of an ethnic group
rich in social capital with a well-established social network. Bearing this in mind, it is
important to map the social network, understand its structural and behavioural
characteristics and learn from it, in order to improve the general South African
economy.
Social network data within the Johannesburg Jewish community was collected with
an electronic survey instrument and analysed in both a social network analysis (SNA)
tool and a statistical package. The data contained 107 unique responses, which
ultimately led to the development of a network which contained 871 meaningful ties.
The network's structural characteristics (degree and betweenness centrality) were
computed using the SNA tool and augmented with both the respondent's network
orientation and entrepreneurial activity.
The study demonstrated that members of the Jewish ethnic network, entrepreneurs
and non-entrepreneurs equally, are likely to connect unconnected people (tertius
iungens orientation) as opposed to exploiting their separation for entrepreneurial
benefits (tertius gaudens orientation). Moreover, the ability of "central" members to
control information flow, by virtue of their position within the network (betweenness
centrality), does not differ between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. Lastly,
entrepreneurs who are motivated to start or who are planning to start a venture, tend
to have a greater number of connections or a higher degree centrality when
compared to non-entrepreneurs and established entrepreneurs.
