This paper discusses the relationship between multidisciplinarity and research performance in the academic context. The paper explains how scholars’ scientific performance is affected by the multidisciplinarity of the network of colleagues with whom they conduct their research. Furthermore, this paper explores the potential moderating role of academics’ social capital, assuming that relational dynamics can mitigate the potential problems associated with disciplinary diversity. To build the proposed model, the paper draws on previous literature on diversity and social capital. The resulting hypotheses are tested through a quantitative study developed on the basis of a sample of scholars in the field of management. Information about multidisciplinarity and research performance was extracted from the Scopus database, while social capital variables were measured through social network analysis techniques. Econometric estimations were used to test the proposed relationships. The findings suggest that the effect of multidisciplinarity and researchers’ performance can be depicted as an inverted U-shaped relationship, so an optimal intermediate level of diversity can be found. Estimations also show that relational, cognitive and structural social capital moderates this curvilinear relationship, making it possible to achieve higher research performance at higher levels of multidisciplinarity.

中文翻译：

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深化多学科对研究的影响：社会资本的调节作用

本文讨论了学术背景下多学科性与研究绩效之间的关系。该论文解释了学者的科学表现如何受到与他们一起进行研究的同事网络的多学科性的影响。此外，本文探讨了学术社会资本的潜在调节作用，假设关系动态可以减轻与学科多样性相关的潜在问题。为了建立所提出的模型，本文借鉴了先前关于多样性和社会资本的文献。通过在管理领域的学者样本的基础上开展的定量研究，对由此产生的假设进行了检验。有关多学科性和研究绩效的信息是从 Scopus 数据库中提取的，而社会资本变量则是通过社会网络分析技术来衡量的。计量经济学估计被用来测试所提出的关系。研究结果表明，多学科性和研究人员表现的影响可以被描述为倒 U 型关系，因此可以找到最佳的中间多样性水平。估计还表明，关系、认知和结构性社会资本会调节这种曲线关系，从而有可能在更高水平的多学科性上实现更高的研究绩效。因此可以找到最佳的中间多样性水平。估计还表明，关系、认知和结构性社会资本会调节这种曲线关系，从而有可能在更高水平的多学科性上实现更高的研究绩效。因此可以找到最佳的中间多样性水平。估计还表明，关系、认知和结构性社会资本会调节这种曲线关系，从而有可能在更高水平的多学科性上实现更高的研究绩效。