Returning expatriates not only brought back to their native countries intellectual capital but also social capital. The transfer of academic social capital by expatriates give domestic scholars better access to foreign information, foster participation in the global academic community, and build confidence and academic reputation. But current research concerning the phenomenon of social capital transfer of expatriates is very limited.
This study proposes a crossborder social capital transfer model of expatraites by applying the theory of homophily, peer effects and group homogenization. An analysis of the data on transnational academic capital transfers, collected from the Network of Thousands of Academic Collaborators, a recruitment network of returning expatraites, shows that returnees are able to accumulate significantly more academic social capital in their postreturn career. Foreign academic social capital is transferred to the domestic academic community through a threeway triadic closure mechanism. The postreturn accumulated capital appears to be transferred with higher efficiency. With such capital transfers, returnees help break stagnation and trigger a cascade of innovation.
We propose a model as well as an analytic formula of transnational social capital transfer. We find that social capital transfer is a process, by which weak relations become strong and indirect contacts becomes direct contacts. Our research implies that crossborder social capital transfer happens when a scholar who possesses the homogenizing characters mediates between two heterogeneous groups and is able to bridge the differences. However once the transfer is completed, the mediator will lose his/her role, which leads to a decrease of clusters and an increase of cluster coefficient. Our study also examines the social impact of returning expatraites by means of quantitative methods. The paper recommends that in planning and modifying Chinese talent recruitment programs, the government should take into consideration the efficiency of social capital transfer.