Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. --- Design/methodology/approach: In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field of sociology and entails a personal network survey. We define four social capital variables according to tie strength and social distance between the respondent and his/her network member. --- Findings: Social network ties are not homogeneous. The econometric results suggest that social capital with weaker ties in combination with socially distant ties can potentially improve households’ access to rural services. --- Research limitations/implications: Our empirical survey focuses on a single province in Northern Vietnam. Thus, the main limitation of our micro-study is its regional focus. A more representative sample of the whole country would be desirable to backup our policy recommendation. --- Originality/value: Our results indicate that access to services in rural Vietnam it still too personalized and subjective. Thus, a thorough review of the access procedures and making them more objective would be better choice. This would also root out a potential alley for corruption and nepotism.