Social capital, household income, and community development in Bhutan: a case study of a dairy cooperative

Galey Tenzin and Kaoru Natsuda

Development in Practice, 2016, vol. 26, issue 4, 467-480

Abstract: Using a case of a dairy cooperative in Bhutan, this study investigates how social capital enhances individual household income and community development in rural areas. It also examines the influence of cooperatives in social capital formation. The study finds that social capital facilitates households that are resource-constrained by working together to reduce costs through economies of scale, enhancing information accessibility, building confidence, and strengthening teamwork. It fosters not only an improvement in the livelihoods of cooperative members, but also provides a positive influence for non-members and the community as a whole. The study also reveals that cooperatives influence formation of three forms of bonding, bridging, and linking social capitals. While bonding social capital facilitates strong teamwork among the members, bridging and linking social capitals connect the cooperatives with the outside networks and provides them more opportunities and services for its sustainability.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09614524.2016.1161731 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cdipxx:v:26:y:2016:i:4:p:467-480

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/cdip20

DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2016.1161731

Access Statistics for this article

Development in Practice is currently edited by Emily Finlay

More articles in Development in Practice from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().