Family Networks for Learning and Knowledge Creation in Developing Regions

Abstract

Family ties are a notable feature of many developing communities. To understand localized learning in developing contexts, the author argues that family ties, despite their strength, can work as bridges for technology diffusion and promote rather than restrict the process of economic development. When regional economies take off, the role of family networks in localized learning becomes weak because hierarchal family ties are structured more to facilitate information flows from fixed sources than to generate new knowledge from the collision of different ideas. By contrast, another kind of social network, friendship ties, is more open and dynamic in fostering regional innovation in the knowledge economy. The transformation from family- to friend-based learning is not easy. Many developing economies become stuck in a transition stage that arises after the collapse of traditional social connections and before the establishment of generalized trust and formal institutions to create spontaneous associations of individuals.