Social capital renewal and the academic performance of international students in Australia

Abstract

Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst others, as regressors. Our survey results reveal a high degree of variability in social capital investment across students and, amongst the more active, a tendency to build close networks in the main with students from their own country of origin. Our empirical results suggest that such investments are not associated with improved academic performance but are associated with increased well being. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst others, as regressors. Our survey results reveal a high degree of variability in social capital investment across students and, among the more active, a tendency to build close networks in the main with students from their own country of origin. Our empirical results suggest that such investments are not associated with improved academic performance but are associated with increased well being. IntroductionAs the above quote makes clear, the importance of social relationships has long been recognised, at least by philosophers and social observers. In more recent times, economists and sociologists have also recognised the importance of social relationships, which is one dimension of what is more commonly referred to as social capital. Related dimensions include trust (both general and particular), volunteering, and organisational and club involvement. Whilst not unanimous, much research suggests that social capital is positively associated with economic growth, international trade, macroeconomic stability, political and civic involvement, crime prevention, health and happiness. Of particular interest to us are suggestions in the literature that social capital impacts positively and significantly on the academic achievement of secondary school students 1 .If social re...

Insights into New Media Use by International Students: Implications for Cross-Cultural Adaptation Theory

“…When International students enter new cultural environments they build new FtF friendships with varying degrees of intimacy (strong/bonding vs. weak/bridging ties) and these distinctions affect the cross-cultural adaptation process in unique ways [39]. Granovetter [40] [41] explored the concept of weak ties to explain how individuals make social advancements by attaining new information and getting recruited into new groups.…”

Understanding social learning relations of international students in a large classroom using social network analysis

“…For example, the social life outside the academic environment has a strong influence on academic and social integration. Having a sufficient number of friends from the same culture as well as host-culture (Furnham & Alibhai, 1985;Montgomery & McDowell, 2009), sharing accommodation with other students (Ward et al, 1998), or joining a sports club, can influence social integration and finally increase academic performance (Neri & Ville, 2008;Rienties et al, 2011;Russell et al, 2010). This allows students to establish a social life that is closely attached to the university setting (Tinto, 1998).…”

“…Previous research has shown that establishing friendship relations with host-national students is difficult for international students, due to language issues (Montgomery & McDowell, 2009;Rienties et al, 2012;Zhou, Topping, & Jindal-Snape, 2011), perceived discrimination (Russell et al, 2010), and the fact that most host-national students already have well-established friendship networks (Hendrickson et al, 2011;Rienties et al, 2012;Rienties et al, 2011). Volet and Ang (1998), Montgomery and McDowell (2009) and Rienties et al (2011) found that the social worlds of host and international students are strongly segregated, and that international students have a tendency to develop relations with co-national students (Neri & Ville, 2008). However Hendrickson et al (2011) found that international students develop both co-national and host-national friendships.…”

“…A methodological limitation of above quantitative (Hendrickson et al, 2011;Neri & Ville, 2008) and qualitative studies (Montgomery, 2009;Volet & Ang, 1998) is that only a subset of international students voluntarily participated in these studies, thereby potentially leading to a biased and an 6 under-or overestimation of how international students build learning and friendship networks.…”

Characteristics of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Their Involvement in International New Ventures

“…Previous research suggests that these friendships facilitate the formation of a management team, and they can support new venture performance (Francis and Sandberg 2000). Of special interest, international students are often well positioned while studying to develop a network of friends who are also from their home country, creating the strong potential for transnational partnerships (Neri and Ville 2008). Saxenian (2002) …”