We are most interested in the partners with whom the source had no ties since the other partners are the source's contacts and make up his or her social capital. The study shows that, in these cases, sources tend to use levers who have weak ties with them but strong ties with the target. These results confirm that weak ties often serve as bridges to connect actors who have no direct relationship. According to Lazega, they also show that actors tend to make greater use of their contacts' social capital than their own in cases where they have no ties with the targets, and the outcome of their action is uncertain. When sources have a strong or weak tie with the target, they tend to use contacts with whom they have strong ties and who have strong ties with the target when possible.
Sources use more of their own social capital when the outcome is less certain.
In Lazega's scenarios, sources make more use of their own social capital when they anticipate that the results will not create conflict. When they anticipate that their lever's intervention may fail and spark conflict, sources prefer to save their social capital. Most of the literature on social capital focuses on co-operative situations. In a local community or organization in which the actors have many strong or weak ties, there seems to be a great deal of co-operation. When each actor's social capital is more limited, co-operation and mutual trust seem to be more limited as well.