: Social capital leveraging knowledge-sharing ties and learning performance in higher education

With the growing attention to the effective utilization of social network analysis in explaining student learning in STEM education, this study explores why college students share knowledge and how they achieve their learning in a laboratory class. In particular, this paper investigates how the social capital that each student builds influences individual knowledge sharing and its related learning. We establish a research model derived from social capital theory that explains the relational, structural, and cognitive capital the class builds. Network data in a lab class in a mechanical engineering department in the US were collected and analyzed to test the research model and hypotheses using Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP) and UCINET. The findings show that the knowledge sharing mechanism and student learning outcomes can be explained in terms of their social capital within social networks. Lastly, the paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications for college student learning in a laboratory class in STEM education.