Is the Structural Holes a Form of Social Capital? A Theoretical Debate

Social capital plays a significant role in utilizing the flow of information. Generally, social capital can be generated by establishing a close relationship between many people in order to create mutual trust. However the structural holes theory instead sees otherwise, high social capital can only be obtained through a sparse relationship. Based on that theoretical perspective, this paper aims to describe and elaborate these two opposing views. Therefore, the author conducted a literature review of nine previous studies. This paper concludes that the structural holes theory is also a form of social capital. Furthermore, this theory is interdependent and complementary to the theory of network closure. The intermediary must combine weak ties with strong ties simultaneously to gain maximum benefits of information and control. He/she should reach out various kinds of relationships between others different groups to generate diverse information (non-redundant) that used to create a good idea. At the same time, the intermediary also needs to maintain and/or enhance the strength of trust or closure in the existing ties in order to distribute the idea because it potentially can increase the adoption of the idea. That collaboration can be used to improve the performance of public services by applying them to internal communication audits and autonomous external surveillance mechanisms