外部社會資本能否為高等教育機構帶來正向的績效？以內部社會資本與機構寬裕資源為中介變數

DOES HEI EXTERNAL SOCIAL CAPITAL LEAD BETTER PERFORMANCE? EXAMINATION OF MEDIATING MODEL OF INTERNAL SOCIAL CAPITAL AND INSTITUTIONAL SLACK RESOURCE

研究目的：社會資本在不同領域研究中已證實，擁有較高社會資本的組織在關係網絡的運用下，可取得較多的資訊、資源與知識。即使如此，學者多從社會資本光明面的角度來討論組織績效的提升與改善，卻鮮少探究社會資本黑暗面的因素對組織績效的影響與效果，尤其在高等教育領域裡。本研究之目的旨在結合社會資本與資源基礎理論，從資源取得－資源累積－資源應用的觀點，來分析高等教育機構在累積高度的社會資本情形下，對寬裕資源和機構績效的影響。研究設計／方法／取徑：本研究分析對象為臺灣高等教育機構教師，抽樣來源為157所大專校院，惟其教師人數眾多，故以立意抽樣進行，並為使樣本具有代表性，且更清楚瞭解機構資源、社會資本與機構績效間之關係，研究者於問卷發放前，即以大學地理區位和機構屬性做為抽樣分類標準。準此，本研究對象為我國30所高等教育機構專任教師，共獲得926份有效問卷，以結構方程模式檢視變數間關係。研究發現或結論：實證結果發現：（1）外部社會資本與機構績效間呈現顯著的非線性U型曲線關係；（2）外部社會資本與機構寬裕資源呈現正向關係；和（3）機構寬裕資源與內部社會資本在外部社會資本與機構績效間扮演重要的中介角色。研究原創性／價值：本研究係以社會資本理論探討高等教育機構的營運與績效，為呈現大學教師在研究、教學與服務等不同面向的績效表現，研究樣本則以我國大學校院助理教授級以上教師為受測者，藉以瞭解學校體系如何透過社會資本與組織資源來提升機構績效，對高等教育經營績效檢視，於理論與實務應用有學術累積之效。再者，研究者參酌相關文獻後，將社會資本區分為內部社會資本與外部社會資本，並加入資源基礎觀點中的寬裕資源，以較完整的研究架構探討其對我國高等教育機構績效影響，並提供不同見解的實務意涵，以做為我國大學校院進行資源拓展與提升教師績效之參考。

Purpose: The functions of the social capital have been confirmed in the studies of different areas. Organizations with more social capitals can get access to more information, resources and knowledge from the relational networks. Nevertheless, scholars discussed the enhancement and improvement of organizational performance from the bright side of social capital, but few studies were made to analyze the factors on the influence of its dark side, especially in the field of higher education. Therefore, this study was to combine the theories of social capital and resource base to further discuss the influence of an HEI's social capital accumulation on slack resources and institutional performance from the perspective of resource acquisition-resource accumulation-resource application. Design/methodology/approach: The object of this study is the faculties of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Taiwan and samples are drawn from 157 institutions. As there are a large number of faculty in HEIs, the method of purposive sampling is adopted. To make the samples representative and have a clear understanding of the relationship among institutional resources, social capital and institutional performance, this study takes the institutional location and attributes as the sample classification criteria before issuing questionnaires. Research objects were full- time faculty in 30 Taiwan HEIs, and 926 valid questionnaires were collected and inspected the relation between variables with structure equation model. Findings: The empirical results show that: (1) a U-shaped relationship between external social capital and institutional performance; (2) a positive relationship between external social capital and organizational slack resources; and (3) organizational slack resources and internal social capital play important mediating roles between external social capital and institutional performance. Originality/value: This study examines the operation and performance of HEIs based on the theory of social capital. In order to fully understand how HEIs improve institutional performance, including research, teaching and service performance, through social capital and slack resources, the faculties above the level of assistant professors are chosen as the participants for the samples. Based on the literature review, the study divides social capital into internal social capital and external social capital, and the slack resources are also considered from the resource-based view. With a complete research framework, this study discusses their influences on institutional performance and provides in-depth practical implications as a reference.