This master's thesis studies and assesses the organisational effects of the social capital in the Litija Administrative Unit. The following and assessing of the social capital (including virtual capital) in the countryside is important, because social capital is one of the factors that contribute to the rise of the collective identity, increased mutual trust and collaboration. All of this can lead to connecting and collaboration among local actors who reach a bigger developmental effect through the work for a common goal. This master’s thesis evaluates especially organisational effects of the social capital (social capital of organisations, social network of organisations and spatial effects) through a combination of SCAT tool methods, because the social capital is a multifaceted and harder-to-measure concept. They are shown as an important starting point for the execution of the current LEADER/CLLD approach, which is based on a connected community. In the Litija Administrative Unit there are 201 registered associations which connect with other organisations and form a social network. With the help of the surveys (107 participating associations) we studied the characteristics of the social capital within the organisations and gained the data for the performance of the quantitative network analysis, with the help of which we graphically showed the social network and identified important nodal organisations in the examined area. The analysis of the in-depth semi-structured interviews (13 representatives of organisations) contributed to the understanding of the cognitive and relational dimension of the social capital (mutual relationships, trust, vision, common goals, collaboration). The crucial results of the performed analyses were introduced to the representatives of the social network nodal organisations on the focus group (7 participants), who assisted the evaluation of the acquired results through their opinions and contributed to the crucial findings of the work.
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