Organizational social capital, professional identity, and cultural exhibition work in academic libraries

Abstract

Although academic libraries increasingly use exhibitions to support education, cultural engagement, and community outreach, less is known about how staff experience this work and the organizational conditions that shape their participation. This qualitative study examines cultural exhibition work in Hong Kong academic libraries through an organizational social capital perspective. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 staff members from 11 universities. Findings show that structural connections, trust and reciprocity, and shared understandings support knowledge sharing, coordination, and collective action across exhibition projects. Organizational structure shaped how these relational resources were mobilized: strategic decision-making was generally centralized, while staff exercised greater autonomy in operational work. Exhibition participation also supported experiential learning, meaningful contribution, and professional identity development, but these benefits coexisted with workload pressures, staffing and resource constraints, knowledge gaps, and limited strategic influence. The study contributes to academic librarianship by showing that organizational social capital can facilitate collaborative exhibition work but does not substitute for formal organizational support and capacity. Cultural exhibition work is therefore best understood as both a relational organizational practice and a form of expanded academic-library labor.