Knowledge Flows and Social Capital

244 Pages·2009·4.56 MB·English

by  Saurabh Arora

Knowledge flows and social capital : a network
perspective on rural innovation
Citation for published version (APA):
Arora, S. (2009). Knowledge flows and social capital : a network perspective on rural innovation. [Doctoral
Thesis, Maastricht University]. Datawyse / Universitaire Pers Maastricht.
https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20090212sa
Document status and date:
Published: 01/01/2009
DOI:
10.26481/dis.20090212sa
Document Version:
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Please check the document version of this publication:
• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can
be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record.
People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication,
or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.
• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.
• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page
numbers.
Link to publication
General rights
Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright
owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these
rights.
• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.
• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain
• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.
If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above,
please follow below link for the End User Agreement:
www.umlib.nl/taverne-license
Take down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:
[email protected]
providing details and we will investigate your claim.
Download date: 03 Feb. 2023
Knowledge Flows and Social Capital
A network perspective on rural innovation

Saurabh Arora
© 2009 Saurabh Arora
ISBN 978 90 5278 807 4
Published by Universitaire Pers Maastricht
Printed in the Netherlands by DataWyse Maastricht
Knowledge Flows and Social Capital
A network perspective on rural innovation

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Maastricht,
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. mr. G.P.M.F. Mols,
volgens het besluit van het College van Decanen,
in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 12 februari 2009 om 16.00 uur

door

Saurabh Arora

U
P
M
UNIVERSITAIRE
PERSMAASTRICHT
Promotor:
Prof. dr. Robin Cowan

Beoordelingscommissie:
Prof. dr. Arno Riedl, voorzitter
Prof. dr. Alan Kirman, GREQAM, Université d’Aix Marseille III
Prof. dr. Luc Soete

iv
For my mother and father
v
Acknowledgements
Over the course of the last seven years, I have accumulated many debts. So there
are a lot of people to thank and I hope I will not forget anyone. But if I do, I hope to
be forgiven.
Let me start by thanking my promotor and supervisor, Robin, without whose
support and guidance this thesis would have remained incomplete forever. Many other
people at MERIT have been very helpful, in particular Eveline, Corien, Wilma, Ad,
Silvana, Marc and Zajia. Among the academic staff, I am grateful to Eddy Szirmai,
Geert Duijsters, René Kemp, Ionara Costa and Anthony Arundel for insightful
comments and discussion. Anthony also saved me from the street on at least two
occasions by letting me stay in his house for several months. Some people at the old
INTECH helped with comments or otherwise. In particular, I thank Yvonne, Martin,
Lynn Mytelka and Keith Smith.
I thank the three members of my committee, Arno Riedl, Alan Kirman, and Luc
Soete, who were generous to read and provide valuable comments.
In India, Andy Hall and others at CRISP, provided much-needed initial hospitality
and institutional support. People at CSA in Hyderabad always had time for my never-
ending questions: in particular, I thank Dr Ramanjaneylu, and Kavitha Kuruganti who
spent hours explaining the intricacies of their NPM work to me. Mr Venumadhav,
Ramesh, G.C. RaviKumar, Nirmala and others from SECURE were welcoming and
helpful in Palvancha and Punukula. Poorna Chandra and Usha translated the
questionnaires into Telegu. Poorna also provided indispensable help in conducting the
interviews. I thank all the hospitable and warm people of Punukula who never
hesitated in answering my often-intrusive questions. I fondly remember conversations
with Hemla Naik, Eerla Danamma, Chikkula Venkanna, Challa Ramachandru, Banoth
Kausalya, Bommanaboina Savitri, Chakrala Yalamanchi, Chakrala Nageshwar Rao, and
Sheikh Khalil.
At the technical university in Eindhoven where I work now, colleagues and friends
have been supportive and encouraging in the final year of this journey. I owe my
deepest gratitude to Marianne Jonker, Saskia Repelaar, Henny Romijn, Annelies
Balkema, Önder Nomaler, Arianna Martinelli and Johanna Ulmannen. Henny also
translated the summary into Dutch and Annelies provided some critical help in
designing the cover.
I am grateful to Simryn Gill and the Queensland art gallery for letting me use a
photograph of Gill’s Forking Tongues installation on the cover.
Friends of mine who started their PhD’s with me were great company in those
early days in Maastricht. I enjoyed many a great evening of food, wine and discussion
with Paco, Fulvia, Tet, Marcia, Ngoc, Sandra, Victoria, Abraham and Ranjitha. I made
some other wonderful friends in Maastricht over the years, who often provided me
with dinner and shelter, and shared beers at the end of another frustrating day filled
with computer codes that didn’t work. Life as an ageing student would have been

vi
unbearable without their company. So thank you Bulat, Jos, Julia, Kirsten, Müge, Saeed
and Tomasso for putting up with my moods and rants.
Finally, I thank UNU-INTECH (now called UNU-MERIT) and the Economics
Department of Maastricht University for financial support.

Saurabh Arora
Eindhoven, January 2009
vii
Contents

List of Tables x
List of Figures xi

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Outline of the thesis 9
Part I: Technological interdependence and evolving networks 12
2. Technological interdependence and knowledge flows 13
2.1 Mechanisms of technological interdependence 13
2.1.1 Technology succession and interdependence 16
2.1.2 Horizontal interdependence in complex products and technology systems 17
2.1.3 Generic technologies 19
2.1.4 Vertical relationships 21
2.2 Temporal aspects of interdependence: gradualism and discontinuities 23
2.2.1 Gradualism and persistent technological interdependence 24
2.2.2 Technological discontinuities 26
2.3 Structure of technological interdependence 30
2.3.1 Hierarchy in systems: core and periphery 30
2.3.2 Circular flow of goods and knowledge: a structural ‘tableau’ for economic
and technological interdependence 37
3. The growth of knowledge and complexity in an evolving network model of technological
innovation 54
3.1 Models of technological evolution 55
3.2 Model 60
3.2.1 Model dynamics 61
3.3 Simulation results 63
3.4 Simulation Experiments: Different Core Structures 71
3.4.1 Core-strength 71
3.4.2 Number of knowledge types mutated in one time-period 75
3.5 Discussion 77
Part II: Social interactions and social capital 79
4. Introduction: networks of a rural community 80
4.1 The community in focus 80
4.2 The story of pest control in the village 83
5. Network data and approach used for data collection 88
5.1 Approach for collecting data on knowledge-flows in the village 90
5.2 Business network data 93
5.3 Collection of social network data 95

viii
5.4 Measuring innovation capacity: knowledge diffusion and experimentation 97
6. Innovation capacity of farmers and the knowledge network 99
6.1 Agricultural innovation: a brief overview 100
6.2 Farmers’ innovation capacity in NPM 102
6.3 The knowledge network 107
6.4 Discussion 112
6. The farmers’ escape from pesticides and debt 115
7.1 The business network: accessing agricultural inputs 115
7.2 The dominant core in the business network 117
7.3 Discussion 119
8. Socio-political events and social network structure 120
8.1 Village India and social networks 121
8.2 Collective action and media success 126
8.3 Power, influence, centrality, and brokerage 128
8.3.1 Power and influence in a social network 128
8.3.2 Brokerage and social capital 132
8.4 Community leaders in the social network and group action 138
8.5 The rift in the face of unity 142
8.6 Conclusions 143
9. Embeddedness of knowledge flows in social networks 145
9.1 Embeddedness of economic and technological activities, and social capital 146
9.2 Measures of structural embeddedness 153
9.3 Embeddedness of knowledge flows in the local innovation system 157
9.4 Social embeddedness of knowledge flows in the community 170
9.5 Discussion 173
9.6 Conclusions 176
10. Summary and conclusions 179
10.1 Summary of the results 179
10.2 Implications for rural development interventions 184
References 188
Appendix A 206
Survey Questionnaires 206
Appendix B 215
Different types of centrality measures 215
Appendix C 216
Bigger core in Punukula’s social network 216
Appendix D 219
Appendix to Chapter 9
Summary in Dutch 229
ix